


To My Death I Fight

by BahamutReishiki



Category: Bleach, Kill la Kill
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-09-26
Updated: 2014-10-03
Packaged: 2018-02-18 22:20:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 24,142
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2364116
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BahamutReishiki/pseuds/BahamutReishiki
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Seven months have passed since Ichigo sacrificed everything to defeat Aizen during the Winter War. Just as he was beginning to settle into a life free from constant battles and life or death situations Ichigo is shocked to discover that he has been accepted into the prestigious Honnouji Academy. Although he is unwilling to go he soon finds that he has no real choice in the matter. Reluctantly deciding to attend he begins to wonder just what the next year will bring.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1: Who'll Stop the Rain

_Here is the first chapter of To My Death I Fight that I've posted on FFN. I'm posting this here to see if it would be worth not only updating on FFN but AO3 as well. So please be sure to leave comments and suggests in your reviews (or whatever AO3 uses. Just registered after all). If you are interested in seeing how the next chapter is shaping up (I'm on Chapter 35 as I type this), head to spacebattles. That is where I updated on a regular basis or so. Enjoy._

 

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  **Chapter 1 - Who'll Stop the Rain**

"Ichigo! Get your lazy ass down here! I have important news for you!"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming," Ichigo Kurosaki, sixteen years old and a former substitute shinigami, sighed as he got up off his bed and left the relative peace and quiet of his room. It was the middle of July, seven months since he sacrificed his shinigami powers to defeat Sosuke Aizen and stopped his plans to become a god, and Ichigo was confused about what to do with his life.

How does one simply move on with their life as a normal human after knowing that there exists an afterlife filled with souls wielding unfathomable power? It almost made doing anything while alive pointless when there was a definite afterlife to look forward to. Ichigo had been tempted to do just that more than a few times, but he was not quitter. While he may no longer be able to see or interact with the souls of the departed, he could still do a lot of good in life. That was why he was seriously considering becoming a doctor like his old man.

As he descended the stairs towards the ground floor, Ichigo walked into the living room and immediately frowned upon seeing Uryu Ishida sitting calmly on the couch, "Uryu? Why are you here?"

"You're asking a question that implies I had a choice in the matter," the quincy retorted with no small amount of annoyance in his voice, "If you are looking for an answer, perhaps you should ask your father. He is the one that called me here, after all."

Ichigo decided to do just that, "Okay, what the hell is going on?"

"Guess what Ichigo?" Isshin Kurosaki proclaimed with exuberance, "You have been accepted into Honnouji Academy, and it was all thanks to your handsome father!"

Ichigo and Uryu shared a confused look, "Time out. Explain."

"It was during my days as a young bachelor!" Isshin began excitedly as he wrapped an arm around his son's shoulders. Annoyed at his dad's attempt to include him in his fantasies, Ichigo tried to pull himself free only to have his dad tighten his arm in retaliation, "Masaki was off at college. That left me your lovable father, all alone with nothing to do! As much as I would have wanted to go with Masaki, I felt that giving her a chance to explore life as a college student was more important. Therefore I, to combat my sorrow and depression, decided to go on a tour around the country!"

Uryu rolled his eyes, but hid the gesture behind his glasses, "While you are no doubt telling us a fascinating story, Mr. Kurosaki, I fail to see the connection to why I am here."

"Now, now, there's no shame in hiding your eagerness, Uryu. I was just getting to the good part after all." The lack of respect Isshin had for Uryu caused the young quincy to mutter obscenities under his breath, "Anyway, it was about halfway through my travels that I met this extremely beautiful and funny woman."

"Hold on a minute," Ichigo interrupted. He was shocked that his dad, the mostly bumbling idiot, had actually met a woman without having to pay her. Judging by the collectively shocked faces on everyone else in the room, he wasn't the only one to think that, "You actually met a woman, a real woman? Are you sure that she wasn't just a man dressed as a woman?"

With nothing more than a grunt, Isshin moved faster than most normal humans could and attempted to roundhouse kick his son in the face. Ichigo, however, was not a normal human and easily managed to duck under the telegraphed attack. Tightly clenching his fist in order to punish his idiotic father, Ichigo wasn't prepared for Isshin to spring off the couch and tackle him to the ground. As he struggled to free himself, his face pressing firmly into the floor, his father continued talking as if nothing had just happened.

"Where was I? Ah, yes. As I was saying, I met this beautiful and funny woman during my time in Tokyo. She was tall, thin, and extremely well-endowed. She might have even been the reincarnation of everything a man could dream of. It was unfortunate that my heart was already stolen by my lovely Masaki."

Fed up with his dad pushing his face against the floor, Ichigo used all his strength and managed to throw Isshin off his body. As his dad slowly flew through the air, Ichigo pivoted around and kicked his dad in the stomach, catapulting him through the living room and leaving an Isshin imprint against the wall.

"Damn idiot," Ichigo seethed angrily.

"How could you have no respect for your father?" Completely uninjured, Isshin got up off the floor and dusted himself off, "I suppose you don't want to know how your super strong and smart father managed to get you enrolled in Honnouji Academy then."

"Wait a second," Ichigo stalked forward and grabbed the front of his dad's shirt, "What the hell did you do?"

He should have known there was another reason his dad wanted to talk with him. Almost seventeen years of putting up with his dad's shenanigans and he still managed to be surprised every now and then. Ichigo was seriously considering turning around and simply ignoring whatever his dad had to say, but knowing Isshin, his dad would simply blindside him before dragging him back kicking and screaming.

Isshin, seeing Ichigo's silence as a non-verbal agreement, continued his story, "Where did I leave off…?"

**_Flashback - 22 Years Ago_ **

_Sometimes Isshin couldn't help but wonder if sealing away his shinigami powers was the only way he could have saved Masaki's soul from disappearing from existence. If Kisuke Urahara was the genius everybody lauded him to be, than he should have been able to invent a gigai that allowed him to use some of his powers at the very least._

_It was too late for him to do anything about it though. Isshin had willfully and gladly sacrificed his power to save Masaki even though she was a quincy. If given the same choice once more, he would do it once more. He was in love with her and nothing anyone could say or do would change his mind. That did not mean he wanted to sit around and be helpless if Masaki ever got into trouble or danger. He had saved her life once already and he wasn't looking to fail a second time._

_When he stopped by Kisuke's shop to ask about improving his gigai, the handsome bastard seemed to mull over his question for a few seconds before proudly declaring that he should be able to whip something up in a couple of days. The exuberance and excitation Kisuke emitted disturbed Isshin. Nothing good could come from the maniacal gleam in the former captain's eye, but left with no choice in the matter he nevertheless complied._

_Stopping to pick up his new gigai a few days later, which had been modified to keep Masaki's soul safe from the hollow dwelling inside her, Isshin began to have second thoughts when Kisuke began giggling crazily while holding the gigai. The shop keeper informed Isshin that the upgraded gigai would have reflexes and strength triple that of a normal human. Kisuke lamented that he wanted to do more, but he would begin risked degradation of the spiritual thread connecting Isshin's soul with Masaki's._

" _Man, I'm really bored. I wonder if there's a movie theater nearby."_

_Isshin suppressed a yawn as he explored Tokyo. He had originally come to the city since he heard the Tokyo Fashion Week was about to begin. As he purchased the train ticket, his imagination was running in high gear as his mind was filled with images of hot and beautiful women modeling revealing dresses and bikinis. That did not mean he would ever touch. The only one for him was Masaki, but that didn't mean he couldn't go and enjoy the models as an art critic._

_If he had known what he was getting into, he would have skipped coming to Tokyo entirely._

_Instead of bikinis and dresses, he watched women strut out wearing clothing and outfits that boggled his mind. Who in their right minds would want to wear something that took four hours to prepare? It wasn't modeling, he quickly realized, but a subtle contest between designers to see who could make the most stupid outfit. He didn't know who was winning, but his interest was surely losing._

" _What am I going to do for fun now?" Isshin grabbed his face in frustration. He had planned on staying in Tokyo for a week for the show. He even booked a hotel room for seven days, damn it. Now with the show a bust, he had literally nothing planned. Sighing miserably, he kicked his foot against the sidewalk and grumbled, "I suppose I could go to Tokyo National Museum or something."_

_So deep was he in his thoughts, that Isshin was completely unaware that his mindless walking had taken him directly past perhaps the most high-end and expensive hotel in Tokyo. The hotel, which catered to those participating in Tokyo Fashion Week, reserved the best rooms and penthouses for the designers and couturiers. As he waited to cross the street on the other side of the hotel, he was nearly thrown forward and into the path of an oncoming car as a large explosion hit him in the back._

" _Damn, what was that?" Quickly picking himself off the ground, Isshin turned around and saw that the explosion had originated from the entrance of the hotel. Tongues of orange and yellow flames rose from the destroyed entrance and thick smoke was billowing out from the first two floors. As his ears picked up the far off sound of sirens approaching, Isshin threw caution to the wind and ran past the escaping civilians and into the hotel._

_Almost immediately Isshin's nose was assaulted by the smell of burning flesh, forcing him to cover the bottom half of his face with his sleeve in an attempt to filter it out. All around him bodies of peoples unfortunate to have been caught in the explosion littered the ground. Isshin knew, with a morbid sense of realization, that if he could still see the dead, the air would be filled with the floating and broken souls of those surrounding him._

_Shaking his head to clear it of the depressing thoughts, he cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted over the blaring alarms, "Hello? Can anyone hear me?"_

_He didn't see anyone, but his enhanced senses, courtesy of Kisuke, picked up subtle coughing coming from the lounge directly across the lobby. Sprinting forward, careful to not step on any of the bodies out of respect for the dead, Isshin braced his shoulder and slammed the doors open._

_The lounge, which had catered exclusively to millionaires and those able to afford bills ranging in the thousands of dollars, was a mess. Tables and chairs, made from the most expensive woods and materials, lay burnt and broken._

" _Is anyone in here?"_

_Isshin's eyes noticed something moving near the back of the lounge. Covering his mouth with his sleeve to keep out the smoke, he pushed forward through the heat towards the survivor. Reaching them only a few seconds later, Isshin quickly determined that the person had been pinned beneath rubble when the explosion went off. Without much effort, he picked up the concrete and wood that must have weighed over two hundred pounds. Quickly pressing two fingers against the woman's neck, he was relieved to see she still had a pulse._

" _Ma'am? Can you hear me?" When Isshin didn't receive a reply apart from a grunt of pain, his heart rate picked up. Quickly and carefully picking the woman up bridal style, he said to her in a comforting voice, "Don't you worry ma'am. I'm going to get you out of here."_

_Isshin hadn't even made it halfway to the lobby when there was another harsh coughing and a man shouted, "Drop the bitch and get on the ground!"_

_The speaker was a man dressed in full military camouflage and wielding a pistol. He had been part of a group that had planned to take the couturiers and designers staying at the hotel during the Tokyo Festival Week hostage for millions upon millions of dollars in ransom. That had all went to hell when one of the idiots set off the bomb that was supposed to be for the police. Now he was the only one left and he wasn't about to let his ticket out of here just leave._

_Raising his shaking pistol towards Isshin's face, he snarled, "I said drop her and get on the ground!"_

_Isshin weighed his options. He was sure he could avoid the bullet the man fired, but he wasn't sure he could do so while holding the woman._

" _I cannot do that," he answered stoically, "I'm a doctor. I cannot leave a patient behind."_

" _You think I'm fucking kidding around?" the man yelled before coughing up some blood. Wiping the bloody drool on the back of his free hand, he shouted over the flames, "I'm not joking around here!"_

_Isshin was about to answer when there was a sound similar to that of a whip before the man's arm was severed off at the elbow. As the man dropped to his knees, his remaining hand gripping what was left of his right arm, Isshin took the chance to flee. As he turned and ran back into the lobby, he could have sworn he caught a glimpse of a figure watching him leave. Ignoring it as a product of smoke inhalation, he ran through the lobby and back outside. As he took in several gulps of smoke-free air, he was instantly greeted with over a dozen police officers in full combat gear. Upon noticing the woman in his arms, they quickly raised their weapons and ordered him onto the ground._

" _Don't shoot!" he shouted, "I found her inside. She injured and needs medical attention!"_

_The situation was tense for several seconds until one of the officers turned his head and pressed a finger against his ear. After speaking to someone over the radio, he nodded to his fellow officers to stand down and let Isshin pass. Racing down the steps of the hotel, Isshin was escorted by an officer to a waiting ambulance, where several paramedics were on standby. As he delicately put the woman on a gurney, Isshin turned to leave only to find a delicate hand gripping his wrist._

" _Hold on…" the woman whispered to the paramedics. Turning her eyes to Isshin, who noted the exotic coloring, she asked, "Who are you?"_

_Isshin gave her a reassuring smile, "The name's Isshin Shiba."_

" _Isshin Shiba?" The woman closed her eyes for a moment before smiling, "I'm…Ragyo Kiryuin. Thank you for saving me…"_

**_End Flashback_ **

As his father's tale came to an end, Ichigo could only stand there in shock. After nearly a minute of silence had passed, he said the only thing he could come up with, "That has to be the biggest load of crap I have ever heard. Couldn't you at least try to come up with something believable?"

"But it's true!" Isshin argued like a child, "Your father is a hero!"

"Ichigo," Uryu spoke up in haste, "I heard about something like this. About twenty years ago there was a terrorist attack in Tokyo during the weeklong festival. Apparently their goal was to take hostage several of the most powerful designers and couturiers in the world and ransom them off for millions of dollars, but when an explosion went off in the hotel, most of the terrorists and hostages were killed. Although, I may not be remembering this correctly, there was one man seen running into the hotel and coming back out with a woman who was later identified as Ragyo Kiryuin."

Ichigo turned to his friend, "Can you explain that in simple words?"

Coughing into his hand and adjusting his glasses, Uryu began explaining, "Ragyo Kiryuin is the CEO and founder of Revocs, the most powerful and influential clothing designer and distributor in the entire world. Her company controls nearly ninety percent of all clothing sales in the world. She is seen as one of the, if not the most, powerful women in the world. Many people have attempted to find the secrets to her success, but to no avail."

That made a lot of sense to Ichigo, but he couldn't help but ask, "That makes things a lot easier to understand, but what's the deal with the blackboard behind you?"

Uryu turned around and saw, to his confusion, that he had somehow drawn a map of the world with various percentages across each continent on a blackboard that hadn't been there a moment ago, "I'm not quite sure…"

Ignoring the implausibility for the moment, Ichigo turned to his dad, "How do your shenanigans have anything to do with me?"

"That's an easy question, my son!" Isshin ran across the room and begin digging through a pile of papers, "About a week later I received a call from Ragyo! She thanked me for saving her life and wanted to repay my kindness. I, of course, could not accept payment for saving her life. I told her as much but she was insistent on repaying me. I managed to convince her that I wanted nothing from her but her gratitude. It came as a big surprise when I received a letter of acceptance from Honnouji Academy for you as well as a letter personally written by Raygo telling me that this was her way of repaying me."

"I don't know," Ichigo wasn't fully convinced by his father's story, "She waits twenty years before paying you back? That seems too much like a scam to me."

"Who do you take me for, an idiot?" Isshin shouted, causing Uryu and Ichigo to collectively face palm at the question. Isshin cleared his throat before continuing, "Did you think this letter of acceptance was simply mailed to the house? It was hand delivered by Ragyo's personal secretary."

When Ichigo continued to stare at his dad with a look that expressed both confusion and annoyance, Isshin's celebratory dance stopped, "Why aren't you happy Ichigo. You were invited into the one of the top schools in Japan. You should be jumping with joy alongside your old man!"

"Thanks but no thanks," Ichigo waved off his father, "I'm fine here in Karakura Town. Who in their right mind would travel halfway across Japan just to go to a school?"

"Ichigo," Uryu interjected, "This is an opportunity only a few people ever get. Honnouji Academy is one of the best schools in the world. You shouldn't just refuse to go without thinking it through first."

"You womanly friend has a point, my ungrateful son," Isshin shouted, causing Uryu to sputter in embarrassment and rage at the comment.

"What did you say?"

Isshin sadly patted Uryu on the shoulder, "There is no reason to be ashamed of your secret. Sewing is a fine pastime! To think that my son was this open-minded about his friends! Tell me, does your father know of your dark and embarrassing secret?"

"My father?" Uryu sputtered, "Ryuken is the one that taught me to sew in the first place!"

"Ah," Isshin adopted a sagely stance, "That explains so much about my old friend. Such as why he didn't play sports or why it took him forever to get married. To be honest, I was kind of surprised he even got married. With his looks and fashion sense, I would have thought otherwise."

While Uryu sputtered indignantly, Ichigo rolled his eyes, "Do I even have a say in the matter?"

"Of course you do!" Isshin said seriously, "You can say whatever you want, but as of last week you are enrolled as a third year student. Now, now, there's no need for silence. Your father deserves everything that is coming to him."

"Everything, huh?" Ichigo grinned maliciously while cracking his knuckles. His father deserved the beating he was about to receive wholeheartedly, but just as he began to sneak up on his dad, there was a sudden knock at the door.

"A guest at this hour?" Isshin ducked down as Ichigo attempted to tackle him. As his son slid into the wall with an audible thud, Isshin hummed thoughtfully to himself, "Whoever it is must be rather important! Ichigo, once you're done lying down on the job, get up and go see who's there while I entertain your girly friend with more tales of my manly youth."

"Whatever," Ichigo sighed and turned around, ignoring the look of terror on Uryu's face as Isshin dragged him towards the photo albums. Ichigo realized a normal person would feel guilty about letting their friend be forced to sit through potentially hours of boring stories, but Uryu deserved whatever was coming to him.

Suppressing a yawn, Ichigo pulled open the door and was greeted with a teenager about his age. While he was about Ichigo's height with flat green hair and eyes, what drew his attention was the outfit he was wearing. Instead of wearing what Ichigo, and most sane people, would call normal clothes, the teen wore a full white outfit. It consisted of a trench coat with a high, open collar around his neck, three black stars emblazoned across the chest and several sets of spikes jutting out from his waist and shoulders.

Ichigo stood there for nary a second before turning to close the door, "I'm sorry, but I'm not interested in anything you might have to say."

Before the door could be fully closed, the teen's foot jammed itself in the frame, "Perhaps I should have worn something less unique. Anyway, the name's Uzu Sanageyama, Student Council Athletic Committee Chair of Honnouji Academy. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Ichigo looked at Sanageyama with a deadpan expression, "Who?"

Sanageyama chuckled embarrassingly, "Didn't you receive your letter of acceptance a few weeks ago?"

Ichigo scowled as he tried to figure out how he could get away with killing his dad without being caught. Sure his dad may be a shinigami but how could he explain that to the police? Leave it to his dad to transfer him to a school he didn't want to go to so far in advance that Ichigo had no choice but to go to it. Either his dad was a genius of the highest caliber or he was just insane. It was probably the latter of the two, "Look, I don't know what my dad told you guys, but I'm not going to Honnouji. I'm sorry for making you come all the way to Karakura."

Sanageyama leaned back in surprise at Ichigo's flat-out refusal to go but he quickly recovered and smirked, "I must admit, that wasn't what I expected you to say. Oh man, if Gamagori were here, he would have shouted something at you before dragging you all the way to Honnouji."

"Gamagori?" Ichigo had no idea who that was, "Who the hell – "

"It is rude to leave guests outside during the cold, cold nights Ichigo!"

Ichigo sighed and leaned his body to the side as Isshin came crashing through the air, narrowing missing where his head had been only moments ago. With an annoyed sigh, Ichigo reached out and grabbed his father's shirt and, spinning around once, threw him through the air and into the streets. Huffing from exhaustion and irritation, Ichigo noticed Sanageyama staring at him.

"I suppose you can come in."

Sanageyama nodded and walked into the house. Looking back at Isshin's smoking and unconscious body, he asked, "What about your dad?"

"Eh. He'll be fine."

* * *

...

* * *

"Uzu Sanageyama…" Uryu stared at the teen intently before scoffing and adjusting his glasses, "I was under the impression that you were still living in the Kanto Region."

Sanageyama waved his hand nonchalantly, "A lot of things can change in three years. People grow up and realize there are stronger fish in the ocean. Who are you anyway? Not many people should know of my exploits outside of my old gang…"

"My name is Uryu Ishida."

"Uryu Ishida, huh?" Sanageyama was slightly taken aback by the name. Lady Satsuki had mentioned an Uryu quite a few times since last summer. What were the odds that he would meet that exact same person on his mission to gauge Ichigo Kurosaki's power? Chuckling at the inner joke, Sanageyama folded his hands behind his head, "You're just as smart as Lady Satsuki said you were."

"Satsuki?" Ichigo turned to Uryu, who seemed perturbed by whatever it was Sanageyama mentioned, "Who is he talking about?"

Uryu embarrassingly adjusted his glasses with his index finger, "It's nothing Ichigo."

"It can't be nothing," Ichigo countered, "He obviously knows you."

Seeing no way out of the conversation without getting into an altercation, Uryu sighed and began explaining, "If you must insist, last summer Ryuken forcefully sent me to Revocs as a ten week internship. As much as I protested my going, he insisted that it would be a good learning experience and broaden my horizons. It was on my first day there that I met Satsuki Kiryuin, who was leaving after speaking with her mother. While I will admit that I've only spoken with her a handful of times, I've found that she is both a highly intelligent and driven woman. However, I don't think my professional life is why Sanageyama came to your house, Ichigo."

Truth be told, Uryu simply didn't want to explain where he had been last summer.

When Ryuken announced his internship, he did so with the knowledge that Uryu would be leaving in less than two days. One day he was in Karakura Town and the next he was gone without so much as a goodbye. While everyone's reaction to his disappearance was different, only Orihime's explanation had caused his friends to shake their heads and groan. She had explained in much detail, and with several accompanying drawings, that Uryu had been abducted by aliens and brought to a world reduced to a nuclear wasteland where the currency was bottle caps and he was forced to fight against mutated animals.

Needless to say no one took her seriously until actually she started collecting bottle caps.

"True enough," Sanageyama smirked and reached into his Goku Uniform before pulling out an envelope. Handing it to Ichigo, he explained, "The start of term at Honnouji Academy began in twenty-five days. All news students of any year, which means you, are required to go to Student Evaluation Day to determine your initial placement and Goku Uniform."

"Goku Uniform?" Ichigo scratched his head in confusion, "Never heard of them."

"Don't be an idiot Ichigo, of course you haven't heard of them," Uryu scolded before sighing, "Goku Uniforms, which are the standard required wear at Honnouji Academy, are imbued with special threads known as Life Fibers. The percentage of Life Fibers in a uniform is an indication of how much the uniform increases the wearer's strength. A proportionally higher percentage enables the wearer to accomplish feats only a handful of people have done."

"How the hell do you know all this?" Ichigo deadpanned.

"Like I said," Uryu triumphantly turned his head to the side, a smug grin on his face, "I only spoke to Satsuki Kiryuin a handful of times. I never said what we talked about wasn't productive."

Ichigo didn't need to know that Satsuki had offered Uryu a chance to come to Honnouji Academy. For some odd reason, she was interested in his ideas concerned the evolution of Life Fibers and the theoretical development of clothing made from 100% Life Fibers, or what Satsuki dubbed Kamui. Uryu was convinced that such clothing could not be stable without some sort of catalyst to dampen its inherent and massive power output. Apparently she was not used to people questioning her knowledge so blatantly, which led to a two-hour debate between them on the subject. In the end neither managed to win over the other, but Uryu was convinced she had set the whole thing up in advance.

There was one other thing that bothered Uryu and prevented him from taking her up on her offer. In his last few days as an intern, Satsuki had brought him to a highly secured room where she allowed him to examine several bundles of Life Fibers. It was only when he entered the room that Uryu felt a great amount of unease. He couldn't explain it since it made no sense, but the Life Fibers were giving off a small amount of spiritual pressure. As he had approached the table they were lying on, he could not help but feel as if they were somehow aware of his presence.

Whatever they were, they weren't normal.

"That's more or less correct," Sanageyama sat down on the couch and propped his feet up on the coffee table, "The strength of a Goku Uniform is indicated by the number of stars stitched on it. Regular students, who are deemed mentally and physically unfit, are given normal Honnouji uniforms and are called No-Star Students. After that there are One-Star students, who have the mental fortitude to control a basic amount of Life Fibers. Finally there are the Two-Star club captains, who have earned their Goku Uniform through service and loyalty to Lady Satsuki."

Sanageyama pointed at his open trench coat, on which Ichigo saw three black, four pointed stars stitched into the fabric, "This is a Three-Star Goku Uniform. Only the Elite Four of the Student Council are given the privilege to wear one. It shows our power and absolute loyalty to Lady Satsuki."

"Isn't it, I don't know, dangerous to give super-powered clothes to people?" It made no sense to Ichigo. Who in their right minds would allow students access to such powerful weapons?

"You have to understand Ichigo," Uryu spoke up with an overly exaggerated sigh, "Karakura High School is perhaps the most normal high school in the country. Despite it sounding absurd, most schools are controlled by Student Council Presidents, who are backed by their family's corporations. The Kiryuin Conglomeration, through various corporate practices, is indirectly controlling all but a handful of schools in Japan."

"I knew that."

Ichigo really did know that, despite what others might think. For a while he had wondered why his dad wouldn't allow the family to leave Karakura Town for anything, even a vacation. It turned out that basically, most of the world sucked. After he had returned from the Soul Society, he snuck outside of the city during one night's patrol and saw how bad it really was. After confronting Kisuke Urahara about it, the ex-captain informed him that it was one of his own inventions that kept all major conglomerates out of Karakura Town. Using the same technology in the Memory Substitution Device, but on a much grander scale, Urahara managed to make it so that anyone from a conglomerate that even thought about setting up in Karakura Town would immediately forget about it.

"This place is quite nice. It really reminds me of home," Sanageyama sighed, "But you don't need to worry. Only Lady Satsuki is able to hand out Goku Uniforms. In the three years she's been the Student Council President, she hasn't made one wrong decision. If anyone attempts to steal or wear one without her consent, they are met with harsh punishments."

"You kill people over stealing some clothes?"

"It's much more than clothes," Uryu spoke up again, letting Ichigo know he was about to get into another one of his lectures, "The Goku Uniform was designed by Satsuki Kiryuin, modeling after her mother's own designs. Only the Kiryuin Conglomeration is able to create the Life Fibers needed in the uniforms. If anyone else were to come into possession of a Goku Uniform, the Life Fibers within the uniforms could be reverse engineered, leading to a global arms race involving more and more powerful clothing. Revocs has methods of recovering from and preventing corporate espionage."

"Still…clothing," Ichigo rubbed the back of his neck, "It all sounds a little stupid to me."

"You should be fine," Sanageyama waved Ichigo's worry away, "Do you honestly think Lady Satsuki would allow you to go to her school if she didn't know everything about you? Her mother may have invited you to Honnouji Academy, but Lady Satsuki is the one who determines the final decision."

"Great, I have a stalker now."

Sanageyama shrugged, "I don't pretend to know what Lady Satsuki thinks, but she was visibly impressed with what she found out about you. I'm sure that you'll get at least a One-Star Goku Uniform once you take your evaluation. Hell, I think you might get a Two-Star if you try out for the Kendo Club. I heard you were quite skilled with a sword."

"How do you know about that?"

"If you really want to find out, come to Honnouji Academy," Sanageyama looked at his cell phone and sighed, "It seems my work is never over. It's been nice chatting with you Ichigo. I'm looking forward to seeing you at Honnouji Academy next year."

As soon as Sanageyama left, Ichigo turned on Uryu, "Why does it feel as if I'm out of the loop?"

Uryu seemed mystified as well. Eyes narrowed slightly and propping his fist in front of his face, the quincy answered, "I am not quite sure. From my limited interactions with Satsuki Kiryuin, she does not seem like the type of person to take interest in anyone without similar mental fortitude and force of will as herself."

"You seem to know all about what's going on," Ichigo's eyes narrowed dangerously, "Did you have anything to do with this?"

"Who do you take me for, your dad?" Uryu seemed insulted by the accusation, "If I went through all the trouble of getting you into Honnouji Academy, wouldn't it make sense that I would get myself enrolled as well? Preposterous! The simple notion that you do not trust me is beyond belief!"

"Oh, shut it already," Ichigo grumbled at Uryu's logic, "So who is this Satsuki person anyway?"

"Satsuki…" Uryu wracked his brain for the information, "She's a very complicated person. Driven, motivated and with an utter disdain for anyone that doesn't meet her own personal criteria and standards. During my internship, there were fifteen of us at the beginning. On our very first day we were brought into one large room, where Satsuki was waiting for us on a platform several feet off the ground. Before we knew what was happening, she began speaking to us about how clothing is sacred to humanity and that it binds everyone together. Once she finished speaking, she seemed to pick out all but myself and another intern and inform the rest that they did not deserve the privilege to work at Revocs. I do not recall exactly what she said, but it had something to do with a lack of spirit and conviction to advance oneself upwards through the world."

That was a rather terrible story, so Ichigo said the only thing he could, "Well…shit."

"My point exactly," Uryu adjusted his glasses, "That is why I am surprised she's taken an interest in you. In my own opinion, if you two were to meet, you would probably try to kill each other within five minutes."

"You're right, I probably would," Ichigo scowled when he heard his dad knock at the front door demanding to be let back inside, "Damn it, why do I have to go to this stupid academy anyway?"

"Just look on the bright side."

"What bright side?"

Uryu smirked, "Whatever does happen at Honnouji Academy, we can both be sure it won't be boring. After all, trouble follows you like a magnet wherever you go."

Ichigo scowled, "You can go to hell."

"Oh believe me, I'm in heaven," Uryu walked past Ichigo with a smug look plastered on his face, "Because, like it or not, you are going to have to deal with telling the rest of our friends where you will be going next year."

As the weight of what he needed to do came crashing down, Ichigo failed to notice Isshin sneak in through the back window. He did not fail, on the other hand, to notice his father's meager attempt to attack him. Spinning around and gripping his father's neck between his chest and arm, he said to Uryu, "Why don't you go sew or something. I heard Orihime wanted you to make her a dress or something."

"I told you, it's just a hobby!"

* * *

...

* * *

In a room lit by the fading light emanating from the setting sun, several people could be seen watching what was being broadcasted on the large screen in front of them. On the screen in various monochromic colors and wearing the standard Karakura High School male uniform, alongside a familiar scowl on a face, was Ichigo Kurosaki. The picture, which seemed to have been taken during lunch, took up the left half of the screen while on the right side various figures and pieces of information scrolled by.

"He looks like a delinquent," the largest figure in the room growled irritably, "There is not doubt that his punkish attitude will no doubt bring disorder to this academy!"

"We're standing right here Gamagori. There's no need to raise your voice," a much shorter figure with teal colored hair chided from where he was sitting. Pressing a few keys on his laptop, the shorter figure unzipped his collar so that his mouth was free and said, "Ichigo Kurosaki, age 16. Just finished his second year at Karakura High School where he ranked fifth out of 208 students."

"Karakura Town?" a regal, but stoic, voiced spoke up from the shadows.

"Yes," Hoka Inumuta, Honnouji Academy Student Council Information and Strategy Committee Chair, nodded and pressed a few more keys, "It is a large town of comparable size to Honnouji. Hmm, that's strange."

"What is it?" the voice asked.

"It seems that no companies or corporations have settled in Karakura Town," Inumuta frowned and entered a command, "Revocs had thought about setting up a branch in Karakura Town a few times but it always fell through during the planning stages."

"Indeed," the feminine voice answered as more of a question, "Continue Inumuta."

"Yes. Ichigo Kurosaki is one of three siblings. Father: Isshin Kurosaki, Occupation – Doctor. Mother: Masaki Kurosaki – Deceased."

"Deceased?" the voiced asked.

"It says she was murdered when Ichigo was nine years old," Inumuta typed a few more keys before frowning, "How peculiar. There is nothing else to be found on his mother's murder. It appears that a police report was not filed. All the information available is from eye witnesses who found Ichigo Kurosaki unconscious under his mother's body."

"How sad, is that why Strawberry is always scowling?" Nonon Jakuzure, Honnouji Academy Student Council Non-Athletic Committee Chair, got out of her seat to get a closer look at Ichigo's picture. After a moment, a mischievous smirk appeared on her face, "He sure is handsome though. I wonder if he has a girlfriend?"

"You dishonor yourself in front of Lady Satsuki, Jakuzure!" Gamagori shouted, his eyes gleaming a malevolent yellow.

The regal figure took a sip from her tea, "Calm down, Gamagori."

Gamagori deflated slightly, "Of course, Lady Satsuki."

Satsuki Kiryuin, daughter and heiress of Ragyo Kiryuin, stared at the image of Ichigo for several seconds before a nearly invisible scowl marred her face. It had only been 72 hours since her mother informed her of Ichigo Kurosaki's registration at Honnouji Academy and still she had yet to find a logical reason for the decision. Her mother, despite running the Board of Directors for the academy, usually left the running of the school to her. To so suddenly and so opening go over her daughter's head implied something was going on that Satsuki was missing, and that annoyed her more than anything else.

"If I may continue," Inumuta's keyboard was a blur of motion as his hands rapidly typed in commands, "I expanded my search out from Ichigo Kurosaki to his immediate family and I found something interesting."

With one last tap of a key, Inumuta brought up a picture dated from nearly twenty years ago. It was a newspaper clipping that read "Terrorist Attack in Tokyo" and was accompanied by a picture of a man carrying a very familiar woman out of a burning building.

Satsuki leaned forward in interest, "Is that-?"

"Indeed, that is your mother," Inumuta explained, "And the man in the picture was Isshin Shiba or, as he is now known as, Isshin Kurosaki."

So her mother wasn't inviting Ichigo Kurosaki out of some mysterious reason but simply because his father saved her life all those years ago. Satsuki, rather than being satisfied with that answer, only found her annoyance growing. If there was one thing she hated it was nepotism.

"We must face the facts," she said, "Ichigo Kurosaki will be attending Honnouji Academy at the start of the fall term. Gamagori, how are next year's preparations proceeding?"

"On schedule," the Student Council Disciplinary Committee Chair answered proudly, "All new One-Star students have been announced and the new club captains have been determined and their corresponding Two-Star Goku Uniforms are being distributed as we speak."

Satsuki sipped her tea before speaking, "Ichigo Kurosaki will be here in less than three weeks for the start of term. Let us give him a welcome. Jakuzure, have one of the club captains greet him."

"Which club would you prefer?" Jakuzure was intrigued, and more than a little happy, to be the one to do so. She would do anything for Lady Satsuki.

"It does not matter which one," Satsuki answered elegantly, "My mother might have gone over my head to allow Ichigo Kurosaki admittance, but it is still my decision whether or not he is qualified to stay."

A sharp ringing noise came from Inumuta's laptop. Looking at the caller ID, Inumuta turned to Satsuki and said, "It appears Sanageyama has finished his task in Karakura Town. Shall I connect him?"

Satsuki nodded, "Yes."

With a few simple clicks, there was a slight rise in the ambient static before Sanageyama's voice filtered in, "Hey Inumuta."

"You are speaking to Lady Satsuki," Gamagori rebuffed.

"Ah, sorry," Sanageyama chuckled nervously over the connection, "Anyway, I just finished talking with Ichigo Kurosaki."

Satsuki sipped her tea, "And?"

"He's definitely interesting to say the least," Sanageyama didn't sound overly convinced by his own words, "The strange thing is that I don't think he even wants to go to Honnouji Academy."

"What?" Gamagori voiced everyone's question, "Speak some sense Sanageyama."

"Apparently his dad enrolled him without telling him about it. He seemed quite pissed off when he found out."

"Interesting," Satsuki leaned back in her chair, "Anything else to report?"

"Yes. He's friends with Uryu Ishida."

Satsuki may not have said anything, but she was quite shocked by that piece of information. Uryu Ishida was a name that she didn't think she would hear again. His theories and ideas surrounding Life Fibers intrigued her to no end. In fact, it could be said that his theory of using a zigzag cross-stitch for her Goku Uniforms increased their overall power by nearly twenty percent.

"Uryu Ishida...that's a name I didn't think I would hear again," Satsuki narrowed her eyes and sighed softly, "Thank you for your report Sanageyama. You are all dismissed."

As the three elites bowed and left Satsuki alone, she continued to stare at the screen in front of her. She was not naïve enough to believe her mother would allow Ichigo Kurosaki admittance based on what his father did. Twenty years ago she would have done that but not now. Her mother must have another, subtler, reason for what she did that Satsuki was not seeing.

Leaning back in her chair and closing her eyes, Satsuki was concerned about Ichigo Kurosaki's connection to Uryu Ishida. There weren't a lot of people who she could consider her equal, intellectually or spiritually, but Uryu had certainly garnered her respect. To not only reject her ideas but also counter with some of his own was bold.

She sat in the dimming light for several minutes before becoming aware of an approaching presence in the room.

"What is it, Soroi?"

Mitsuzo Soroi, Satsuki's loyal butler, bowed respectively before speaking, "I know it is none of my business, Milady, but I could not help but overhear your interest in that young man."

Satsuki opened her eyes at the sound of tea being poured, "Yes. Ichigo Kurosaki fascinates me to no end. For some reason he has drawn my mother's attention and yet I can not find anything that warrants such respect from her."

Soroi stared at the picture and sighed, "Milady, I have spent years in the service of you and your mother. I can honestly admit that I cannot and will not understand the reasons she does what she does. I can, however, hazard a guess as to her interest in the young man."

When Satsuki did not speak, signaling to Soroi that he had her attention, he continued, "Lady Ragyo's mind is as mysterious as ever. Perhaps there is something special about him that she has kept secret."

"I think I understand Soroi," Satsuki sighed, "But I will not allow Ichigo Kurosaki admittance to Honnouji Academy without him proving himself first."

"As you wish, Milady," Soroi bowed respectfully. He had given his opinion but he knew that despite anything he said, once Satsuki Kiryuin made up her mind nothing could stop her.


	2. If You Don't Know Me By Now

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here is the second chapter of To My Death I Fight. If you're interested in following this story (It's on chapter 35 and counting) head over to Spacebattles where I post on a nearly daily basis!

"Ichigo!"

From where he was standing in his front door Ichigo sighed. As the shouting coming from his friend, Keigo Asano, drew closer, he waited until the last second before stepping to the side and holding his arm out. Keigo, enraptured at seeing Ichigo, was unable to notice the arm until the last second and was harshly clotheslined. Ichigo, while still a normal human, possessed greater than normal physical strength and easily stopped Keigo's forward momentum.

While the teen's head and neck were stopped abruptly, the laws of physics dictated that the rest of him continue to move forward. Keigo's legs flew into the air before his entire body crashed to the ground in an undignified heap.

Lowering his arm, and looking at his friend with annoyance, Ichigo said, "Hey Keigo, Mizuiro."

Mizuiro Kojima stepped on the prone form of Keigo, eliciting a groan of pain from the teen, and waved back to Ichigo, "Hey Ichigo. Tatsuki said you were throwing a farewell party, right?"

"Unfortunately," Ichigo grumbled and folded his arms, "My idiotic dad wouldn't stop bugging me until I agreed to this. Then he had the nerve to try and hang out with us."

"Ah," Mizuiro muttered knowingly, "I suppose that is an issue."

As Mizuiro walked into his house, Ichigo turned and closed the door just as Keigo was about to follow them, causing the teen to slam face first into it and fall back onto the ground. Ignoring the cry of pain from outside, Ichigo walked back to the living room where everyone was either waiting for him to return or talking amongst themselves.

"So Ichigo," Tatsuki Arisawa grinned at him and punched his shoulder hard enough to make Ichigo wince, "Just when were you going to tell us you were transferring schools?"

Rubbing his sore shoulder, Ichigo scoffed, "It's not like I had a choice or anything. I only found out about it last week."

"That's no excuse for waiting five days before telling us," Tatsuki argued back. Before Ichigo could even retort, she reached to the side and pulled a bewildered Orihime Inoue in front of her body, "Did you even stop to think about how any of us would feel about it? Orihime was devastated when she found out you were leaving!"

"Come on, Tatsuki!" Orihime blushed in embarrassment and tried to desperately pull herself out of her best friends grip, "Don't say things like that. If Ichigo wants to go to another school, I'm fine with that. Really! He shouldn't have to stay here because of me!"

"Damn it, Orihime!" Tatsuki turned Orihime around until she was face to face with the well-endowed girl and began shaking her like a rag doll, "It's been over four years! Tell him how you feel before it's too late!"

"How I feel? I…but…Ichigo…" Orihime's face turned a deep red from embarrassment before she managed to escape Tatsuki's grasp and ran out of the living room, her friend hot on her heels.

Watching them go, a bewildered and confused expression adorning his face, Ichigo just silently shook his head, "Damn it, I'm confused."

"You cannot possibly be this dense," Uryu sarcastically asked from where he was sitting.

"Oh shut up," Ichigo snapped back, "I don't see how this is any of your business."

"It is my business when you are so oblivious to what is right in front of your eyes," Uryu adjusted his glasses, a knowing smirk on his face, "I knew you weren't intelligent Ichigo, but I never thought you were this stupid."

Reaching to the nearby table, Ichigo grabbed the first heavy object he could and threw it at Uryu. The quincy opened his eyes just in time to be beamed in the forehead by a coffee mug, propelling his body backwards along with the chair he was sitting on.

"Excuse me," Mizuiro casually stepped over Uryu's unconscious body. Sitting down on the couch, his cell phone once again in his hands, he asked, "So Ichigo, did you find out anything interesting about this Honnouji Academy?"

"Not much," Ichigo admitted, "Uryu seems to know a lot about it, but he's being awfully quiet about it. Most of what I know comes from that weird guy that came to the house last week. I think his name was Sanageyama or something like that."

"Weird," Mizuiro typed something on his phone before turning to look at Uryu's prone form, "Uryu's been out for a while now. Are you sure you didn't kill him?"

"He's fine," Ichigo walked over to Uryu's body before gently, to him at least, kicking the quincy. Sputtering back to the realm of consciousness, Uryu coughed and glared at Ichigo.

"That was completely uncalled for Ichigo!"

"I see you're awake," Ichigo replied, completely unbothered by Uryu's glare, "You know anything else about Honnouji Academy that you failed to tell me already."

Quickly standing up, the blood that was trailing down from his forehead mysteriously gone, Uryu fixed his glasses and began speaking, "There is not much that I could add to what Sanageyama told us last week. The only thing I can think of is that the number of stars affixed to your Goku Uniform determines more than just your ranking in the school. The more stars you have, and therefore the more power, the better your standard of living is. One-Star students live in standard dormitories while Two-Star students have houses all to themselves."

Their conversation was interrupted when Isshin's head appeared from the kitchen, "Ichigo, there's someone on the line for you."

Uncaring as to what his dad wanted, Ichigo waved him off dismissively, "Tell them to call back later."

Isshin disappeared back into the kitchen, and for a moment Ichigo and his friends could hear him talking to someone on the phone. When he reappeared a minute later, he said, "Come on Ichigo! This girl sounds rather interested in speaking with you."

Ichigo had no idea who his dad was talking about, and judging by the looks on his friends' faces, no one else did either.

"Who the hell is your dad talking about?" Tatsuki asked as she walked back into the living room, a noticeably less embarrassed Orihime following her.

"I have no idea," he answered with an annoyed sigh, "I better go answer the phone before he decides to do something stupid like putting it on speaker. Hey dad, what line's the phone on?"

"None!" Isshin walked out of the kitchen, his new cell phone in his hand, "The girl called on my cell phone! How she got my number I'll never know. She's going to call back on the video phone!"

Ichigo's breath hitched in his chest as his dad just said the worst thing he could. A few weeks after defeating Aizen, Kisuke stopped by their house alongside his assistant, Tessai, and said they were there to work on something Isshin had asked them to do. After being shoved out of his own house for nearly two hours, Ichigo returned to find a new television in the living room. When he saw nothing else changed, he pulled Kisuke aside and asked what he did. The former captain, with an insufferable grin on his face, told him that he installed what the living call a 'video phone.' Using some of Soul Society's technology, they managed to adapt it for normal usage. Ichigo had asked Kisuke why the hell they would need it in his house, to which the shopkeeper had said:

" _Because Yoruichi wouldn't let me put it in my shop."_

When the television turned on with an all too familiar crackling of electricity, Ichigo turned and saw a stern-faced girl appear on the screen, "Ichigo Kurosaki I presume?"

Ichigo stared at the girl for a couple of seconds in absolute silence. With neatly cut black hair that fell to below her shoulders and a stern expression on her face, the resemblance between her and Byakuya Kuchiki frightened Ichigo. After taking a moment to assure himself that he hadn't somehow stumbled into a parallel universe where Byakuya was a woman, he crossed his arms and asked, "Who are you?"

"Hey Ichigo," Tatsuki squinted her eyes slightly and pointed her thumb at the screen, "You know her?"

"Satsuki Kiryuin," Uryu stared at the screen, "I did not think we would speak again."

"Uryu Ishida," Satsuki turned toward the quincy, "It is a pleasure to speak to you once more. I was unaware that you were familiar with Ichigo Kurosaki."

Uryu adjusted his glasses with his index finger, "Must I repeat what I told you while I interned at Revocs? I prefer to keep my private life separate from my work. I'm sure someone such as yourself appreciates such a believe, or was I wrong in my understanding of you?"

Satsuki gave Uryu a barely-noticeable smirk but did not say anything. Turning her gaze across Ichigo's living room, making sure to make eye contact with each and every one of Ichigo's friends, she said, "You keep interesting company, Ichigo Kurosaki. Inumuta prides himself on being able to gather information, but it seems he failed to find out quite a lot about you."

"Am I supposed to be flattered?"

"You should be," Satsuki reached off the screen and when her hand came back, it was holding a cup of tea, "I'm going to be perfect honest with you, Ichigo Kurosaki. I do not appreciate having someone like you, who gets through life solely on the deeds of their parent, attend Honnouji Academy. It is a disgrace and I will not tolerate your presence for one minute in my academy!"

"Oh please," Ichigo rolled his eyes at her veiled threat, "You think I even want to attend your stupid school? I was more than happy to stay in Karakura until I finished high school, but my idiot of a father enrolled me in Honnouji Academy without even asking me about it first. Just hearing your voice is making me wish I didn't have to go even more."

For a moment it looked like Satsuki was about to snap at Ichigo's defiance but instead, a smile graced her face, "Bold words Ichigo Kurosaki. It seems the information about you was indeed correct, but all you have done is bluster meaninglessly. Are you able to stand upon your two feet like a human or do you cower behind those with true power like a dog?"

Ichigo was about to reply when he realized that her anecdote made absolutely no sense. Sure the meaning was clear as day, but the way she phrased it just threw him off balance. Looking towards the only source of information in the room, he asked Uryu, "Do you have any idea what she just said? Is there anything I can say to make her go away?"

Purposely avoiding looking at Satsuki, Uryu answered, "What you just asked is as impossible as having Orihime keep herself from blurting out whatever exists in that nightmarish imagination of hers. The best course of action would be to listen to what Satsuki has to say. Anything else would most likely not be in your best interests."

"Fine," Ichigo sighed in defeat. Turning back to Satsuki, he said, "What do you want from me?"

Satsuki narrowed her eyes, "What I want from you is inconsequential, as I have already obtained all I needed to know. Watch yourself upon your arrival at Honnouji Academy, Ichigo Kurosaki. Not everyone will be a tolerant of your presence as myself."

With that last warning given, Satsuki's image disappeared from the screen. There was a pregnant pause before Tatsuki said, "God, what a bitch."

"Tatsuki!" Orihime cupped her hands over her mouth in shock, "That's not a nice thing to say. So she was a little mean…that doesn't mean you can call her that!"

"I have to agree with Tatsuki, Orihime. Satsuki Kiryuin was quite rude to Ichigo."

Everyone jumped slightly as Yasutora Sado, known as Chad to his friends, appeared out of nowhere behind Orihime. None more so than Orihime, who literally leapt in the air and into Tatsuki's arms out of fright.

"Chad," Ichigo's mind was trying to piece together how Chad had appeared out of thin air, "Where the hell did you come from?"

"The front door," Chad pointed behind him, "I was walking by when I saw Keigo crying near your house. I asked him what was wrong and he said you locked him out, but when I tried opening your door I found it unlocked. After that, I just let myself in. I hope you don't mind."

"It's not a problem," Ichigo didn't want to think about how such a large person could be so stealthy.

"Hey Chad," Mizuiro frowned and put his phone away, "Anyway, I don't know about the rest of you, but I got the feeling that Satsuki was threatening Ichigo."

Mumbling to himself, Uryu began explaining to the rest of them what he knew, "Satsuki Kiryuin holds a tight grip on Honnouji Academy. Ichigo's acceptance to the school and reluctance attendance has thrown a wrench into her plans that she has not yet begun to account for. This call was a way for her to gauge Ichigo's personality and intelligence. There is no doubt in my mind that she purposely called when we were all here so as to see how Ichigo would react in the presence of those close to him."

Ichigo rubbed his face in annoyance, "This is just great. I haven't even left home and I already have an stalker. Hey, did any of you notice that she looked and acted a lot like Byakuya?"

Uryu nodded, "I noticed a passing resemblance."

"A little, although she had blue eyes," Chad answered.

"Oh! Do you think she's his daughter from an illicit affair with a human woman?" Orihime asked. In her head she was already imagining Satsuki as a shinigami, cutting down hollows while Byakuya and Rukia watched on with pride and awe. As Ichigo saw the glazed look in Orihime's eyes, signaling she was going to be gone for a while, he could have sworn he heard his dad suddenly choke and cough.

"Who?" Tatsuki asked.

Ichigo flinched subtly as he remembered that Tatsuki had never actually met Byakuya Kuchiki. Out of all his friends, she was the only one to have little experience with the Soul Society apart from when Aizen had arrived in Karakura Town after defeating the captains in the fake Karakura Town.

"It was just someone from the Soul Society, Tatsuki," he admitted. Turning to leave the room, he looked at Uryu, "I'm going to go kill my dad. Ignore everything you may hear."

"That will not be a problem," Uryu responded, "I was not too pleased to speak with Satsuki once more myself. Our last encounter did not end amicably."

Stalking out of the living room into the kitchen, where he knew his dad to be hiding, Ichigo was considering just what he was going to do him when he heard his father's voice speaking to someone on the phone, "Are you sure about this? It's not too late you know."

Leaving the living room and entering the kitchen, Ichigo looked around for where his dad might be hiding but, to his surprise, he found the room completely empty. Scratching his head and looking around, he noticed the back door was slightly ajar. Walking over and looking outside, he saw nothing and was about to turn away when he heard his dad's voice.

"I know but…"

Ichigo frowned at the exhausted tone in Isshin's voice. When he tried and failed to hear whoever his dad was talking to, his dad spoke again, " I see your point. Are you sure about this? I mean…fine. I suppose I'll talk to him and send him over as soon as possible. Bye."

Pulling his phone away from his ear, his arm falling to his side, Isshin said, "Ichigo, you really need to learn some manners. It is impolite to eavesdrop on other people's conversations."

"Yeah, well," Ichigo put his hands in his pockets and walked outside, "You're one to talk. How many times have I caught you trying to listen in on me?"

"Too many to count," Isshin admitted with a chuckle, "But as your father, I am entitled to stripping you of your liberties and rights if it helps make you safe. Who knows what type of illegal activities you get up to when I'm not around to stop you."

Ichigo groaned and rubbed the bridge of his nose, "You know exactly what I was doing last year. Anyway, what was that all about?"

"It was Kisuke," Isshin's voice was somber, as if he had just heard a piece of bad news, "He wants you to come to his store as soon as possible."

"Why?" Ichigo was confused. Ever since he lost his shinigami powers, Kisuke had said that he didn't need to come by his shop anymore. It wasn't that he was no longer permitted to come so much as he didn't want Ichigo to remember everything he had lost in the process of saving both the Soul Society and the World of the Living. While he was initially incensed at that, he had quickly realized his point when Kisuke said that Rukia had stopped by when he was there. The fact that one of his closest friends, shinigami or not, was right next to him and he was unable to see or sense here gave Ichigo all the incentive he needed to leave Kisuke's shop.

"He wouldn't say," Isshin groaned and rubbed his chin, the early makings of a beard already apparent, "But he said it was very important that you come over as soon as possible."

Ichigo didn't see any reason why he shouldn't go. Kisuke wasn't one to drag him to his shop in the middle of the day without a good reason, "But what about my friends? I can't just ditch them."

"Don't worry," Isshin pat his shoulder in a comforting gesture, "I think I can take care of your friends while you're gone."

Ichigo stood there, thinking about what Kisuke wanted, as his father walked back into the house, a mischievous grin on his face. As he stood there, thinking about what Kisuke wanted, Ichigo heard his father shout, "Who wants to see Ichigo's baby pictures?"

* * *

...

* * *

Nearly half an hour after Kisuke called, Ichigo found himself standing outside the former captain's shop. It had been so long since he had come by that Ichigo was confident that Kisuke had done something strange to the shop, like perhaps adding another floor or two.

"Hey Kisuke."

When Ichigo's greeting went unanswered, he frowned and knocked on the door. Didn't his dad say that Kisuke was waiting for him at his store? If that was the case, then where was that idiotic shopkeeper.

"Damn it, Kisuke," Ichigo growled and slammed his hand on the door, "This better not be another stupid joke."

Kisuke never left his shop unattended for even a minute. There was always someone there to manage the business of catering to shinigami and humans. It had originally been because if Aizen somehow managed to locate his hideout and came by while Kisuke was away, there would be no telling how much damage the traitorous captain could accomplish with everything hidden inside. That did not mean Kisuke always made the right choice. When he and Yoruichi went on their 'vacation' last fall, he had left an irritated Tessai in charge. After Ichigo received several subtle and several not-so-subtle threats by the behemoth of a man to volunteer at the shop after school or else, Ichigo had wisely decided to stay out of the way until Kisuke got back. That, however, was not nearly as bad as when he left Hiyori in charge for a few days.

Ichigo still did not comprehend how Hiyori set normal water on fire like that.

Slightly disturbed by what he might find inside, Ichigo braced himself and, to his surprise, managed to slide open the door without any resistance. As he stepped inside and his eyes adjusted to the darkness, he stopped and muttered, "What the hell…?"

The neatly organized rows of merchandise interspaced with items from the Soul Society hidden under weak illusions that would cause any human without the proper knowledge to skip over them lay in broken and destroyed piles on the ground. Ichigo carefully stepped over several opened cans of food and noticed something odd on the floor. Every few feet there were several strange gashes cut into the floor. Kneeling down to inspect them further, Ichigo ran a finger over one of the gashes and quickly drew his hand back. Whatever had created the gashes had been sharp enough to leave the edges jagged and razor sharp.

"What happened?" he muttered before quickly leaping back as the sound of something crashing to the ground startled him. Eyes looking around for the source of the sound, his mind assuming that it belonged to whoever did this to Kisuke's store, he let out a breath of relief when he saw it was simply the door to the back of the shop falling off its hinges.

Cursing his inability to sense spiritual pressure, Ichigo cautiously crept towards the back of the store where Kisuke lived. Pressing his back against the wall near where the door had fallen off, he peered around the corner, his eyes darting through the darkness for any unexpected surprises. Seeing no one inside, he walked into Kisuke's room and flicked on the lights.

From just that one glance it was apparent that a fight had taken place. There were several spots of blood on the ground that led across the room towards the back door, which Ichigo noticed had been blown off the hinges from the inside.

As he carefully stepped across the room, Ichigo nearly tripped on something strewn haphazardly on the ground. Quickly regaining his balance before he fell, he looked down at what tripped him and saw that it was a pink umbrella cut neat in two. Reaching down to pick it up, he was surprised when it took both of his arms to lift it off the ground and even then Ichigo didn't think he could hold it for more than a minute or two.

When his cell phone rang, Ichigo nearly had a heart attack and dropped the umbrella, almost hitting his foot in the process. Fishing his phone out of his pocket and looking at the caller id, he was relieved when he saw it was Kisuke.

"Kisuke?"

"Hello Ichigo," Kisuke's voice came echoed out from the speakers on his phone, "By your tone of voice I assume you've seen the state of my shop. I would apologize for the mess but unfortunately I'm a little preoccupied at the moment."

"What's going on? Where are you?"

"Oh nothing much," Ichigo heard Kisuke wince over the phone, "I'm currently hunkered down in a construction building in the eastern part of town. If you're wondering why, it's because I had an uninvited guest arrive at my shop just a little while ago."

"Guest?" Ichigo might not have been able to sense spiritual pressure anymore, but he could feel something off about the whole situation.

From where he was leaning against a concrete support pillar twenty-three stories above Karakura Town, Kisuke looked at the trail of blood cascading down his left arm with a grimace. He supposed he should consider himself lucky that the injury to his shoulder was not deep enough to reach the tendons. Taking a deep breath and leaning his head back until it was resting against the concrete, he adjusted his hat and began explaining, "Before I say anything, I would like to point out that I had never seen this person before in my life, and that is saying a lot."

Kisuke's shinigami senses picked up movement nearby. Quickly turning his head, he let out a breath of relief when he saw it was just a rat. Focusing back on the phone, he began explaining, "I'm sure by now Uryu has mentioned where he was last summer. What he might have failed to tell you is that when he came back, he may have absconded with something that didn't belong to him. It wasn't like I expected him to bring me a bundle of Life Fibers, but he was quite adamant that there was something strange about them."

"Strange?"

"I'm not quite sure myself," Kisuke admitted. The attack could not have come at a worse time. Yoruichi was back in the Soul Society helping Sui-Feng with something completely unrelated to her job as a captain while Tessai had taken Ururu and Jinta out somewhere. If even one of them were here, Kisuke was certain he would not have had to retreat, "But whatever the case may be, I'm fairly certain that my current predicament is related to the Life Fibers. I am unsure as to how she managed to find out I had them or even where I was. Luckily I was able to escape with only minor injuries."

"Who attacked you?" Ichigo demanded to know what happened. Even if he was currently powerless, it tore at him that he was unable to do anything to help.

Kisuke sighed and tipped his hat forward, casting his eyes in shadow, "To be perfectly honest I'm not quite sure that whoever attacked me was even a human. There was something…off…about them, but they were strong. At least at the level of a captain."

Back in Kisuke's shop, Ichigo's heart plummeted at that piece of information. He didn't know anyone, apart from the arrancar, that could fight a shinigami captain evenly. Who could have attacked Kisuke with enough power to not just injury the former captain, but also cause him to flee for his life? Nervously swallowing the bile rising in his throat, he asked, "Are you sure about that?"

"There is no doubt in my mind as to their purpose for attacking me," Kisuke answered seriously, but Ichigo could tell he was distracted by something, "I'm sure you want to know what I did with the Life Fibers. To be honest, it was just something I worked on in my spare time. Whatever they are, Life Fibers are something else. It took me months just to figure out how they work and up until a few weeks ago to get them to actually do anything. In retrospect, that might have drawn her attention to me. Perhaps there is some sort of security built into the Life Fibers that acts as a sort of homing beacon. Whether that is true or not, I'm pretty sure she didn't appreciate my answer."

Ichigo was just about to open his mouth to ask something when Kisuke interrupted him, "Ichigo, I need you to do something for me."

Biting his lip, Ichigo responded, "What do you need me to do?"

Kisuke was silent for a few seconds, "I need you to go into the Secret Training Room under my store. Once you're down there, walk straight away from the ladder and look behind a funny looking rock to the right. There will be something there that I think you will find to be of great use when you go to Honnouji Academy. I would say more but – "

Whatever Kisuke was about to say was cut off as a large explosion reverberated through the phone, "Kisuke! What the hell happened?"

There was silence before Kisuke's crackling voice came through, "Sorry about that Ichigo. It seems that she's managed to find me sooner than I anticipated. I'll talk to you later. Do not try and find me, and make sure she does not find what I left you."

"Kisuke!" Ichigo shouted at his phone but the former captain had already ended the call. His numb fingers quickly lost their grip on the device, causing it to fall and bounce off the floor. Ichigo stood there, in the middle of the darkened shop, for what seemed like hours before he took a deep breathe and headed towards where the entrance to the underground training room beneath the tatami mat was.

Kisuke was counting on him after all.

* * *

...

* * *

In a burst of shunpo, Kisuke leapt over the rooftops across the industrial section of Karakura Town.

The sheer remoteness and lack of witnesses made this part of Karakura Town the best place to make a stand against his pursuer. While a battle between shinigami and other supernatural spirits weren't usually seen by normal humans, his opponent was quite different. Kisuke had seen her stop following him for a few seconds just to kill a potential witness or two. Even Aizen wasn't as callous and amoral as to kill people left and right, but the girl chasing him already racked up a body count in the double digits.

" _I have to keep luring her away from any more innocent bystanders."_ Kisuke jumped off the edge of a warehouse before tucking his knees up and breaking through a glass window. Rolling to a stop inside an abandoned factory, he quickly turned and began moving across the catwalk above the rusty and broken machines dozens of feet below.

" _I also have to stall her long enough for Ichigo to get to my shop,"_ Kisuke slashed Benihime forward, slicing the steel door blocking his path to the roof in two. Quickly ascending the stairs and noticing he was alone, at least for the moment, Kisuke carefully took a couple of steps outside, _"This girl's sensory abilities are frightening. If she is so easily able to follow me, than it is no stretch of the imagination that she could easily track Ichigo."_

When she first appeared in the front room of his shop, Kisuke has sensed something off with her but chalked it down to his agitated nerves. He was still getting over Aizen finally being defeated after nearly a century of plotting and scheming against the Soul Society. When he saw her head towards the section where he kept his sweets, Kisuke decided to go into the backroom to check on some of his experiments. His shop was quite infamous for giving away candy at a large discount to children, so he didn't really think much of it. As he looked over the numbers coming out of one of his experiments, only years of training with Yoruichi saved Kisuke from a potentially fatal stab to his heart. While dodging to the side at the last minute, Kisuke didn't escape unharmed. Instead of piercing him through his heart, his adversary instead managed to cut deeply into his shoulder.

As Kisuke cautiously walked across the roof, his ears picked up the subtlest of changes in the air behind him. With his mind already analyzing his opponent's fighting patterns, he grimaced and leapt to the side just as a purple blade sheared through the concrete roof like it was butter. Skidding to a stop across the roof from where his opponent was now standing, Kiuske raised Benihime in a defensive position. Going on the offensive against such a strong and unpredictable opponent would be tantamount to throwing his life away.

Noticing something out of the corner of his eye, Kisuke looked at his sleeve and frowned slightly at the small cut along the length, _"She nearly got me that time. While I am getting used to her speed and strength, it appears that she has something else up her sleeves. I'll need to be more careful from now on."_

A flash of light from the sun glinting off purple metal let Kisuke know that he needed to focus. Ducking and strafing to the side, he began parrying the precise and deadly strikes from his assailant. Whoever taught her how to fight was very skilled, if the difficulty he was having keeping up with her was any clue. Parrying the purple blade off Benihime and to the side, Kisuke spun around and swung his zanpakuto only to once again hit nothing but empty air.

" _She's too good."_

Kisuke's eyes widened as he was quickly forced to brace his forearm against his zanpakuto in order to block the overhead strike that came out of nowhere.

" _As much as I am getting used to her incredible strength, it's her speed and reaction time that makes everything so much more difficult. No one of her size and stature should possess the power to give a shinigami captain a difficult time. If she were a quincy or a bount, then I wouldn't be surprised, but I'm feeling nothing from her."_

Jumping over the purple blade that nearly bisected him in two at the waist, Kisuke quickly stabbed his zanpakuto into the roof and spun around. As his sandaled foot shot out to connect with his assailant's face, he grimaced when he once against missed. Landing awkwardly on the roof to avoid leaving himself open to a counterattack, Kisuke pulled Benihime out of the roof and turned to his opponent.

" _How very interesting."_

Ever the scientist, Kisuke's mind began analyzing his opponent's abilities as best as he could, _"Even with less than a second of warning, she still managed to not only avoid my attack, but also widen the distance between us to lessen the chance of another surprise attack from me. The question that's bugging me is how she keeps managing to do it. It is illusions, clones, or some other type of technique?"_

Feeling a slight breeze through his hair, Kisuke reached up and noticed that his favorite bucket hat, the same one Yoruichi had given him many years ago as a gift, was missing. Looking down at the roof, Kisuke saw that it was neatly split in two from front to back.

"Well now," Kisuke drawled as he knelt and picked up the pieces of his hat, "I do believe you killed my hat. That wasn't very nice of you. While I would love to chide you about such rudeness, I must admit that I did not think you would track me down so quickly. Your ability to sense my location is truly frightening. If you don't mind me asking, how did you manage to find me so quickly?"

Kisuke's opponent looked oddly at him before smiling cutely, "That's easy! Nobody can stop me. I can go wherever I want to!"

"You don't say…" Even though he was smirking on the outside, internally Kisuke was grimacing. If this girl could track him, someone who Aizen couldn't find even if he wanted to, then he was going to need some extra help if he wanted to get out of this fight alive and in one piece. With both Yoruichi and Tessai gone, and Shinji's group either back in Soul Society or out of town on personal errands, it seemed as if Kisuke had picked the worst day to get into a fight.

Glancing at his injured shoulder, which was still bleeding quite heavily, Kisuke decided to stall for time, "It's been quite some years since I fought someone able to keep me on my toes. It looks like I'll have to take this fight seriously or I might actually die."

"That's quite the funny word – might," Nui Harime beamed happily at the praise Kisuke was giving her. Clapping her hands together and sticking her tongue out in a cute gesture, she added, "But that's a bad choice of words. You actually believe I'm not going to kill you? I didn't know you were delusional, Mr. Urahara."

"And you know my name. That's both disturbing and flattering."

Due to the lull in the fight, Kisuke took a moment to more carefully analyze Nui Harime's appearance. With exaggerated and long blonde hair pulled up into twin drill-style pigtails and a pink Lolita-style dress, she looked to be the epitome of what kids nowadays call a princess. It was odd, now that Kisuke thought about it, that Nui's attire reminded him of what Ururu had tried to pick out for herself a few months ago. While Kisuke wasn't against the idea, if you consider cheering her on to be neutral, Tessai had been the voice of reason and explained to Ururu the fallacies of such scandalous clothing.

Focusing on Nui's blue eyes, one of which was covered by an eye patch consisting of scrunched together katakana that he couldn't make out from where he was standing, Kisuke thought back to the moment he realized how dangerous Nui Harime truly was.

When Nui first appeared at his shop, she had been carrying a pink parasol that had been sturdy enough to initially block his zanpakuto. It was only after he released Benihime's shiaki and sliced the parasol in two that Nui had brought out her current weapon. If that wasn't strange enough, Kisuke had noticed a dark look flash across Nui's face for the barest of moments after he destroyed her parasol.

The purple blade Nui wielded was perhaps the most dangerous variable about her. While she possessed superhuman speed and strength, her blade is what gave her a distinct advantage over him. Even Benihime's shikai cannot stand up to it for extended durations without developing chips and cracks along the edge.

"Do you mind answering a simple man's curiosity, young lady?"

Nui seemed to think about it for a moment, her finger tapping against her nose, before answering, "Sure!"

"It's about your name," Kisuke knew what he was about to say might be dangerous, but it should also give him some valuable information depending on what she said, "Nui Harime. That is quite the odd name if I do say so myself. Nui means 'sewing' and Harime 'stitch.' Those would be quite odd names in a normal situation, but given the fact that you seem to be after whatever Life Fibers are, I would have to assume there is a connection between you and them. Am I wrong?"

Nui blinked owlishly once before smiling. If someone who didn't know her saw the smile, they would assume she was happy about something. Kisuke, on the other hand, saw something extremely dangerous in it. He needed an avenue of escape.

"While I have enjoyed the time spent playing with you, I am a businessman. If I don't get back to my store soon, hooligans and ruffians are sure to break in and steal all my stuff. Do you mind if we continue this little play date of ours at another time? I know some people that would love to meet you."

Nui Harime plucked at her lip with her right thumb in an attempt to look cute. Kisuke, however, noticed something disturbing and odd about her movements. Whenever she moved or attacked, it was always her right arm or head that moved normally. Everything else seemed to not look quite right. Her legs seemed to bend stiffly at the knee and her left arm seemed to be perpetually stuck in the same position unless he looked away. It was as if she was trying, and failing, to mimic a human.

"Nope!" she said cheerfully, a smile slowly forming on her face, "But you already knew that, didn't you?"

"I thought as much," Kisuke answered, a cold sweat breaking out across the back of his neck. There was something incredibly unsettling about that smile.

"Well…" Nui planted her purple scissor blade into the roof, the sharpened blade easily piercing through the concrete. Leaning upon it, she propped her cheek on her hand, "It's cute that you're trying so hard to run away, but I'm going to need those Life Fibers back."

"Life Fibers?" Kisuke focused everything he had on predicting Nui Harime's next move. He knew without a doubt that she was about to attack him. Every single fiber of his being agreed with him on that, the only problem was that she was too damn unpredictable for his genius mind to figure out what it was she was going to do, "I must insist that I don't know what you're talking about. I am but a simple purveyor of goods and sweets. I wouldn't happen to know a thing about Life Fibers."

"Hmm…" Nui blinked before smiling widely, "It's so adorable that you're lying directly to my face. I'm going to have to punish you now."

Kisuke blinked once and found Nui in the air directly in front of him with a psychotic grin on her face. Jumping back to avoid being hit, he quickly found himself rapidly exchanging blows with Nui's Scissor Blade.

"Amazing!" Nui's infuriating girlish voice announced with glee, "This is really fun, but are you going to tell me where the Life Fibers are?"

"I thought I told you already," Kisuke ducked beneath Nui's purple Scissor Blade before jumping straight up in the air. As he waited for Nui to follow him, as he knew she would, Kisuke added, "I don't know what Life Fibers are."

Disappearing in a burst of shunpo, much to Nui's surprise, Kisuke reappeared behind her and purposely swung Benihime at her neck. Easily dodging the beheading strike, as Kisuke anticipated, Nui was unprepared for the equally fast sandal to the face that threw her through the air and into the side of a nearby building with enough force to create an audible boom.

" _That should buy me some time to think of a more permanent solution for dealing with Nui."_ For as much strength and power Kisuke put into that kick, the former captain knew that his opponent wasn't even hurt. It was quite strange dealing with an opponent who was either much more durable than a shinigami or arrancar, which was looking more likely by the second, or whose regeneration was so staggeringly fast that the moment his foot left her cheek, Nui was already completely healed.

As Kisuke waited for Nui to come bouncing out of the rubble and debris with a smile on her face and completely injured, he went over his limited options, _"Kidou is out of the question. I've already tried to cast a level 90 binding kidou on her and she didn't even feel it. Perhaps it has to do with the strange feeling I feel coming from her. Spiritual energy may simply not affect her. I need to get to Isshin as quickly as possible and inform him about what's happening. As long as Nui is allowed to run freely through Karakura Town, Ichigo will be in danger."_

"What are you thinking about Mr. Urahara?"

Kisuke's eyes widened in surprise as he felt Nui Harime appear directly behind him. Slowly turning around, he locked gazes with her single blue eye, which was filled with an unholy mirth. With a sickeningly sweet smile on her face, Nui swung down with her purple Scissor Blade and cut a large gash across Kisuke's back.

"Huh?" Nui looked at the blood dribbling off her Scissor Blade before looking at Kisuke, "How odd. I could have sworn I bifurcated you. You are really full of surprises Mr. Urahara."

"Ha…ha…" Kisuke breathed raggedly as he stared down Nui. What she did just now to get behind him was impossible, strike that, merely implausible. There should have been some warning before she appeared, but yet it was almost as if she simply imagined herself behind him. If Nui's abilities were actually based on imagination, it would be nearly impossible to beat her.

"You're still alive, huh," Nui pouted childishly and rocked on her heels, "This is becoming really boring, so I'm going to have to wrap things up now. Try not to die too quickly, Mr. Urahara."

Spinning around and laughing girlishly, Nui threw her hands out and exclaimed, "Mon-Mignon Prêt-à-Porter!"

As Kisuke found himself surrounded by copies of Nui Harime, as weak compared to the original as they may be, he recalculated the odds of his survival and found it to be dropping by the second. As the Nui copies laughed and leapt at him, Kisuke smirked and ruffled his hair.

"So, you're going to zerg rush me huh?" Raising Benihime up, spiritual energy coursing through the blade, Kisuke prepared himself for perhaps the last fight of his long life, "That's fine by me, but you're going to have to work for it."

* * *

...

* * *

"Ugh…this used to be so much easier when I could just jump down."

It was times like this that Ichigo realized how much he took his shinigami powers for granted. Kisuke's Secret Training Room was nearly a quarter mile below the surface with the only way down being via jumping or taking the ladder so conveniently provided. In the past, Ichigo had taken the easy way down and simply jumped while using his spiritual pressure to soften his landing. Now that he was just a normal human, he was forced to take the hard way down.

Landing on the dirt with a soft impact, Ichigo massaged his hands to get the blood circulating through them once more, "When Kisuke gets back, I'm going to have him install an elevator. This is just ridiculous."

Huffing in frustration, Ichigo looked around the training grounds. It looked just as he remembered it. The artificial sunlight emanating from some unseen light source kept the giant room in a state of perpetual afternoon, the painted clouds overhead only seeming to add to the fakeness of the room. Taking a few steps forward, his eyes surveying his surroundings for any surprises, Ichigo tried to remember where Kisuke told him to look.

"He said something about a funny looking rock…" he mumbled and began walking away from the ladder, "What could that mean?"

Ichigo's question was soon answered, much to his eternal annoyance. Kisuke had said it was a funny looking rock. What the bastard failed to mention was that by that, he meant it was a rock in a terribly bad caricature of Ichigo. It even made Rukia's drawings look like the work of a master.

"That bastard," Ichigo growled. If Kisuke survived whatever was happening to him, Ichigo was going to kill him for this terrible insult. Putting aside his completely rational hatred for the man, for the moment at least, Ichigo looked around the rock for whatever it was Kisuke had left for him. When he found it, Ichigo was caught completely off guard by what it was.

"The hell does that bastard take me for?"

Carefully wrapped in plastic and tied neatly together with string was a school uniform. Turning it over, in case Kisuke was playing mind games with him, Ichigo noticed a piece of paper fall gently to the ground. Ignoring the uniform for the moment, he reached down and picked the piece of paper off the ground. Unfolding it, he saw it was a letter addressed to him from Kisuke.

**_Dear Ichigo,_ **

**_If you are reading this note then I am either dead or missing…just kidding! I'm joking so wipe that frown off your face. Anyway, you may be wondering why this uniform is so special or why I hid it behind this funny looking rock in my basement. Well, this uniform is quite special since I designed it using the Life Fibers your friend Uryu procured for me. If you see Uryu before I do, please make sure to thank him for his wonderful donation. The applications of Life Fibers are tremendous and I fear I have only just begun to scratch the surface of the possibilities._ **

**_Onto more serious matters, this uniform is made purely from Life Fibers, which Uryu claims make it a Kamui or something. I would have chosen something more awesome like Super Amazing Uniform of Unbridled Power but Yoruichi thought that sounded stupid. I feel I should mention that Uryu warned me about the inherent risks of attempting such a feat, but I think I managed to negate all possible ramifications._ **

**_This Kamui is tailored specifically for your body. You might be asking yourself how I was able to accomplish such a wonderful feat. The answer, my naïve pupil, is quite simple. I merely snuck into your room in the middle of the night, stripped you down naked, and measured each and every aspect of your body. I also took a few blood and DNA samples because you can never have enough of those lying around. Once I was done, I used a marker to doodle all over your face in ink that you cannot see._ **

**_That was another joke…or was it?_ **

**_Actually, your father was kind enough to give me every detail about your body. So make sure to wear this special uniform when you go to Honnouji Academy. Oh! Don't forget the most important aspect about this Kamui…it's hand wash only, so be sure to brush up on your laundry skills!_ **

**_Your Superior,_ **

**_~Kisuke Urahara~_ **

**_P.S. – I should probably mention that you shouldn't get blood on it, but it's not like you're going to get into a fight to save humanity or anything._ **

**_P.P.S. – Don't tell anyone what this is. Pretend like it is a normal uniform._ **

**_P.P.P.S – Oh, I almost forgot, you should begin thinking of a name for your uniform. I know what you're thinking, 'why the hell is crazy old Kisuke Urahara making me choose a name for a uniform?' Well, that is a stupid question Ichigo. Everything I do has a purpose, even something like what I just wrote. Didn't you say the same thing about your zanpakuto once? Stop thinking stupid questions Ichigo. And yes, I can read your thoughts even though I wrote this letter days ago. I am THAT good._ **

"Idiot," Ichigo spat and tucked away the note in his pocket before looking at the uniform.

At first glance it looked like a normal school uniform except for the odd color scheme. It looked similar to the grey blazer and trousers that were standard at Karakura High School except that instead of being grey, it was white with black highlights along the legs, arms and near the collar. Tearing the plastic off the Kamui, he was not going to call it that, it just sounded stupid, Ichigo unfolded it and held it up at arms length.

There was something else strange about the Kamui, but it took Ichigo a few moments to realize what it was. Located near the collar, situated near the front of both shoulders, were designs in the shape of closed eyes.

"What's so special that Kisuke risked his life to hide you?" Ichigo flipped the Kamui around and even inside out, as if there was a secret he could only find if he looked hard enough. Not finding anything, he eventually gave up and began heading back to the ladder, the Kamui tucked firmly under his arm, "Ah, screw it. I'll find out from him when he gets back. It's not like anything can kill that man. I mean, if Aizen couldn't take him out, then who can?"


	3. I'll Take You There

Ichigo stared out the passenger side window of the car, his face periodically lit up a sickly yellow color by the halogen streetlights racing by along the empty highway. No matter how many times he thought about it, he continued to find it odd that as soon as they passed through the outer limits of Karakura Town the lush forests and fields that he had visited many times in his life abruptly gave way to what could at best be described a desert and at worst a wasteland.

The landscape spanning for miles on either side of the winding highway was a barren and almost sickly brown with dust storms blowing the loose topsoil up into the air every now and then. The sky itself wasn't any different than what he was used to seeing back home, except that if he concentrated and narrowed his eyes he could just barely make out a hint of an unnatural red color permeating everywhere he looked.

"Ichigo," Isshin Kurosaki called out his son's name as he briefly pulled his eyes away from the road. He knew Ichigo wasn't sleeping, his son tended to snore in the car if he did fall asleep, but still decided to ask, "Hey, you awake?"

Ichigo waited a few seconds before answering, "Yeah. What do you want?"

Isshin sighed dramatically at Ichigo's lackluster reply. It was clear his son was still peeved at him for the sudden transfer to Honnouji Academy and away from all his friends, "I'm sure you must be curious about why the world outside Karakura Town is like this. Aren't you wondering why the thick and green forests gave way to this hellish landscape?"

"Not really, no."

"Well, if you really want to know," Isshin continued, completely ignoring the fact that Ichigo wasn't interested in finding out why, "No one really knows what happened. All that we, and by that I mean Kisuke and the Soul Society, have been able to find out is that someone or something decided to take out most of the world using nuclear weapons. The Soul Society was able to use Kido to clean up the residual radiation, but the damage was already done. Nearly 75% of the population was killed and only major towns and cities like Karakura and Tokyo survived the conflict intact."

Nearly three-quarters of humanity was dead? Ichigo couldn't believe something like that. His dad had to be making it up, "You're joking with me right? If that really happened, why didn't I know about it?"

Isshin gawked at Ichigo's question before breaking out into laughter, "Because, my dear boy, of the biggest cover-up in the history of the world!"

At Ichigo's continued perplexed expression, Isshin decided to continue explaining, "For about three years after the nuclear war the Soul Society, apart from cleaning up the radiation, set up what I might as well call Kido Amplifiers throughout each remaining city and town. Once they were all set up, they released a much more powerful version of the memory modifier your friend Rukia tried to use on me to convince the world that the nuclear exchange never happened. Instead of that, most of the world thinks everything that happened was the result of a massive, and costly, regular war like World War II was."

As Isshin finished speaking and changed lanes on the empty highway, Ichigo's mind was still trying to come to terms with what he had just found out. Sure he knew something was wrong with the world outside of Karakura Town. His forays into the outside world during his time as a shinigami was proof enough, but it was the realization that something of that magnitude of destruction happened that boggled him.

"Why would the Soul Society wipe their memories?" he asked trying to sort out the confusion in his mind.

"I'll start with the simple answer – it was to preserve the balance of souls between the living and the dead," Isshin answered mysteriously as he yawned into his hand. He had been driving for quite a while now, and a look at the dashboard clock said it was almost dawn, "You remember how the quincy killed too many hollows and threatened to destroy the balance of souls? Well, the number of people that died during the nuclear exchange put that to shame. As good as the Soul Society is, even they couldn't handle a couple of billion souls suddenly appearing all over the world. The shinigami did the best they could, even the captains had to help, but it took them nearly twenty years to konso most of the souls. Even then it left over five hundred million souls to transform into hollows and escape to Hueco Mundo.

Half a billion hollows? Ichigo couldn't believe there could even be that many hollows. He wasn't even sure he had killed a thousand of them when he was a shinigami. Still, something his dad said was still bothering him, "You said that was the simple answer. What else is there?"

"I see you are indeed sharp, Ichigo. It's no wonder you got accepted into Honnouji Academy," Isshin said proudly, a mock tear crawling down his cheek. As much as he wanted to hit his dad for being an idiot, Ichigo restrained himself. He could always hit his dad after he heard the story, "The truth of the matter is simple – The Soul Society was fearful of what could happen. The Captain-Commander may be the strongest shinigami alive, but he saw the devastation nuclear weapons caused and feared the consequences of someone doing it again. If he didn't order the erasure of humanities memories, someone would have the idea to start another nuclear war and perhaps this time it wouldn't be as limited as the first one. Apart from you and perhaps several hundred people scattered across the Earth, everything believes the only two nuclear bombs dropped were during World War II.

Ichigo was silent for perhaps half an hour after listening to his dad's explanation for the state of the world. How was he supposed to react after hearing that the world had effectively ended once and the Soul Society decided to give a do-over? As his mind circled around that concept over and over again, Ichigo decided to ask a question that had been bugging him for some time.

"Has there been any sign of Kisuke?"

Isshin sighed, letting Ichigo know all that he needed to hear, "Not yet. Yoruichi has been running herself ragged looking for him. From what he told you on the phone, it sounded like he was in a lot of trouble. Yoruichi checked out the area you thought he was at and found traces of his blood, but no body."

"Damn it!" Ichigo cursed and slammed his hand against the car door, "I should have gone to help him. I could have done something, anything!"

Isshin slammed on the brakes, bringing the car to a screeching halt in the middle of the empty highway. Turning to Ichigo, an angry look on his face, he said, "Since when was my son a coward?"

"Ichigo, I know Kisuke well enough to know that he must have had a good reason for making sure you stayed far away from him. I may not have any clue about what he was doing and quite frankly the thought of his experiments fills me with dread. I suppose the point I'm trying to make is that you should trust that Kisuke knew what he was doing. He risked his life to make sure you got whatever it was that was in his store."

Isshin started the car again but didn't speak any further, deciding that giving Ichigo some time to process what he just said was for the best. When several minutes had passed, Isshin rubbed the back of his neck with his hand and asked, "So what was it that Kisuke left for you? Was it a weapon or something? I told that man to leave you out of his nonsense but damn it all to hell if that bastard listens to a word I say."

Ichigo rolled his eyes in annoyance, "If I didn't tell you the first twenty times, what makes you think I'll tell you the twenty-first time you ask?"

"Aw come on!" Isshin's voice devolved into an annoying replica of a child's, "You can tell your father!"

"Shut it, old man!" Ichigo turned and looked out the car window in annoyance. The sun was just beginning to peak over the horizon to the east, bathing the red and brown landscape with the colors of dawn and causing the streetlights to begin turning off one by one.

"Ichigo," Isshin's voice returned to normal, "Whatever it is Kisuke wanted you to have, I'm sure he had a good reason for hiding it. Perhaps he thought you could get some use out of it or something. All I know is that the man was not someone to do something without a good reason. He knows just how much the Soul Society, the entire world, owes you for taking care of Aizen."

Ichigo looked at the Kamui he was wearing with confusion. The Student Evaluation Day was later in the afternoon, which meant his dad had to wake him up at the crack of dawn in order to drive him to Honnouji Academy in time. When he discovered that he would be required to wear the Honnouji uniform, he took one look at it before throwing it away in disgust. He could barely put up with wearing the Karakura High School uniform, and that was only because the school board allowed students to customize their uniforms to a certain extent. Honnouji, on the other hand, had such a strict dress code that wearing Kisuke's Kamui, the weirdly colored uniform it was, was by far the better option.

The Kamui was something that continued to plague his mind. At first Ichigo had been doubtful about the uniform since Kisuke made it for him. In fact, anything that man created caused Ichigo to take a step or two back and carefully observe the situation before trying it out. When nothing happened for a couple hours and the Kamui remained an inanimate article of clothing, Ichigo decided to try it on. As he put it on and finished zipping up the blazer, he found that it seemed to fit him perfect, perhaps even too perfectly. Another thing that bothered him was that it never seemed to get too dirty or stained. Anything that he accidentally spilled on the Kamui bled right off the clothing, usually onto the floor causing Ichigo to clean it up.

The minutes passed in silence but eventually Ichigo was brought out of his musings by the appearance of lights in the horizon. They were nearing the bridges that led to Honnou City, which meant it would be less than an hour until they arrived. Perking up and stretching his sore neck at the thought of the trip almost being over, Ichigo was surprised when he dad said, "I feel that as your father it is proper to warn you that this world is not a safe place to live in."

Memories of the Winter War and the Soul Society briefly passed through his mind, causing Ichigo to sarcastically reply, "Gee, what gives you that idea?"

"Hey! I'm being serious here!" Isshin flustered and smacked Ichigo on the back of his head, eliciting an angry growl form his son, "I'm not talking about the Soul Society, hollows or anything like that. You're a teenager, despite everything you've been through, so your knowledge of the world is sorely lacking. Hey, don't give me that face! Tell me something Ichigo, if you had to guess the average number of hollow attacks on a town or city every year, what would it be?"

Ichigo seriously thought about the question before answering, "I don't know. I'd say about one hundred or so."

"Try one, if they're unlucky and they have a spiritually sensitive human living there," Isshin replied with a knowing chuckle, "It may shock you, but Karakura Town is basically the Bermuda Triangle of hollow attacks. I tend to chalk it up to how spiritually rich the land around the town is. It may shock you, but the number of hollow attacks in Karakura Town is roughly equal to about half of the rest around the world."

To be fair, Ichigo had always suspected something like that was true. Sure he was shocked, but the evidence had always been there. There weren't even ten thousand shinigami in the Soul Society to protect humans and souls from hollows. How could they possibly patrol and defend the entire world without stretching their forces thin? It would make more sense if hollows concentrated their attacks on one particular area in the world.

"Like I said, the danger I'm lecturing you on comes from the living," Isshin cracked open the window and allowed the cold, late summer morning air to quickly fill the car, "I couldn't help but overhear your conversation with Uryu about whatever Goku Uniforms are. I may be but an ignoring and bumbling father, but even I would be hesitant to take free power if you don't know the cost. You know, perhaps even better than me, what happens to those that are given power then aren't able or ready to control."

Ichigo glanced down at his Kamui, thoughts and memories of when his hollow took control of his body in Hueco Mundo racing through his mind. He didn't like to think back at what his hollow did to Ulquiorra, but he knew it would never have happened if he had just been strong enough to fight the espada. Sighing and running a hand through his hair, he leaned back and said, "Don't pull that stupid crap with me. If you're so worried about me then why are you sending me to Honnouji Academy?"

"The answer is quite simple Ichigo." Isshin's face was framed in shadows before he smiled goofily, "Sending you to Honnouji Academy is a tax deduction! By moving you across the country, I'm saving oodles of money every year!"

"Cheap bastard!" Ichigo smashed his elbow into his father's face, causing the car to swerve across several empty lanes before Isshin managed to regain control.

"That was a cheap shot, Ichigo!" Isshin whined childishly while he rubbed his sore cheek, "What did your poor, normal father ever do to deserve such retribution?"

"You know exactly what you did," Ichigo answered before adding, "And you're nowhere near normal."

Isshin huffed indignantly, "Remember my story about Ragyo Kiryuin?"

"The one you made up? Yeah, I remember it."

"I wasn't perfectly honest with you," Isshin admitted, "Ragyo is a very mysterious and complex woman. After I rescued her from the bombing, she and I kept in touch throughout the years. Masaki knew about this, of course, and knew that my correspondence with Ragyo was nothing more than a friendship between two adults. Did you know that Ragyo sent me a picture when her daughter, Satsuki, was born? Masaki was so torn up about it that she wanted to have kids as soon as possible."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

Isshin sighed and gazed out the driver's side window, "What you don't know, and I hope Masaki never knew, is that something happened to Ragyo. When I first met her she was just a normal woman in charge of one of the largest companies in the world. She would laugh at my jokes and got along with Masaki, but as the years passed she seemed to change. She became cold, distant and more dedicated to her company. The birth of her daughter was perhaps the last time she sounded like the woman I first met. I don't know what happened to her, or even what could have caused it, but do not think for a moment that being admitted into Honnouji Academy is something she did out of generosity. Keep your eyes and ears open, Ichigo."

Ichigo stared at his father for several seconds as what Isshin said was processed. He had seen the look on his dad's face before whenever he visited their mother's grave. It was the look of someone who had lost something without ever having a chance to save it. As he opened his mouth to offer some sort of comfort, Isshin's mood quickly swung full circle.

"But that's enough talking about those sad memories from a time long gone!" Isshin shouted juvenilely at the top of his lungs, "There is still a little time before we get to Honnou City. Let's have a proper father and son talk now that you cannot go anywhere. Have I ever told you my secret manly dating tips that wooed Masaki?"

Ichigo groaned into the palm of his hand and stared out his window. Glancing down at the road, he wondered if he could survive jumping out of a moving car as a normal human.

Dear god, he hoped so.

* * *

...

* * *

Ragyo Kiryuin was a woman who liked to flaunt her wealth and power.

Sitting in her office on a chair made out of leather from an extinct animal, she swirled the glass of 1907 Heidsieck in her hand, a pleased look on her face. To most people in the world, wine that cost nearly a quarter of a million dollars a bottle would be relegated to a collection, but Ragyo did not care for such amenities. To her, a couple hundred thousand dollars was mere pocket change when her company made that much every twenty seconds.

Sensing a familiar presence entering her spacious office, Ragyo smiled and shifted her eyes towards her approaching secretary and assistant, Rei Hououmaru.

"So tell me," she began haughtily, "What is there to report on the situation?"

Rei Hououmaru reached into the pocket near the lapel of her pristine white suit and pulled out a pair of large, blocker sunglasses before speaking, "It appears that the Grand Couturier has failed in her mission to retrieve the stolen Life Fibers."

"Quelle ironie," Ragyo muttered and put the glass of wine down on her desk before standing up. As her back left the chair, her office was immediately enveloped in a bright rainbow light that emanated from her hair, which would have blinded Rei had she not thought to put on her sunglasses.

Closing her eyes and sighing, Rei took the director's silence as a sign to speak, "If I may ask Ma'am, I do not see what the problem is in losing the Life Fibers. Just over the past three months, several government-sponsored groups broke into Revocs facilities across the world and stole nearly one hundred million dollars worth of Life Fibers and related equipment, but that was only after you leaked internal memos describing the physical benefits of weaving Life Fibers into clothing. Why should this particular instance gain such prominence?"

"Vous avez raison," Ragyo smirked and walked over to one of the opulent windows in her office, the white dress she wore seemingly avoiding touching the ground, "Those simple humans stealing my Life Fibers don't concern me. It is, after all, part of my plan to disseminate Life Fibers across the globe. The governments that steal Life Fibers are the last ones to ban Revocs clothing, but as long as Life Fibers are introduced into their countries, it does not matter who has them. The problem with this particular situation is that the Life Fibers stolen came from here."

"From here?" Rei asked stunned and pulled out her PDA. Scrolling through the data listed on it, she stopped on a particular file and opened it, "Are you referring to the security breach last summer, Ma'am?"

The security breach was perhaps the single most embarrassing thing to happen to Revocs since the company's founding. No one, not Ragyo Kiryuin or even the Grand Couturier, knew how it occurred or who accomplished it. All that the security footage showed were the doors to the harvested Life Fibers being destroyed by an unseen force before five bundles of Life Fibers, nearly five million dollars in total, mysteriously disappeared from the building.

To this day Ragyo did not know who could have done such a feat and that bothered her more than anyone would ever find out, "That was why I sent the Grand Couturier to Karakura Town. The signal that all Life Fibers emit finally appeared on our screens, pinpointing their location to a store owned by a Kisuke Urahara. Nui Harime's goal was not only to recover the Life Fibers, but also find out who gave them to him."

When she noticed the peculiar absence of someone who would have already been in her office, Ragyo asked, "Tell me, where is my Nui?"

"I'm afraid the Grand Couturier is still recuperating from her mission," Rei informed her boss with a slight bow, "She has given me permission to debrief you in her place."

"Recuperating?"

"Yes," Rei bowed slightly as she explained what happened, "From the Grand Couturier's bursts of anger and frustration, I was able to put together a clear picture of what happened. From Nui's story, Kisuke Urahara appeared to be a highly dangerous and intelligent man who was able to deduce the Grand Couturier's true origins from only her name and purpose. After her initial attempt to procure information and dispose of Kisuke Urahara where there would be no witnesses failed, she was led on a chase across half of Karakura town before finally cornering him."

"Quite a dangerous man, indeed," Ragyo smiled coldly and turned her head until one eye was staring directly at Rei, "Is there something you are not telling me?"

"You are such a scamp, Ma'am," Rei shook her head dejectedly. Sometimes the Director's sense of humor was a bit alien to her, "You knew that I wasn't finished speaking. As I was telling you, once the Grand Couturier decided to finish dealing with Kisuke Urahara, she returned to his shop only to discover that someone had already been there."

Upon hearing that news, a smile spread across Ragyo's face that looked nearly psychotic, "Kisuke Urahara was truly a worthy opponent for our dear Nui. To not only lead the Grand Couturier away from her objective, but also have someone retrieve it while she was busy killing him. It was a shame he had to die."

"Indeed," Rei agreed with a nod, "Whoever Kisuke Urahara's colleague may have been, they made the mistake of leaving open the entrance to a previously hidden room located underneath his shop. Upon returning for a second time, the Grand Couturier went inside and found equipment and machinery more than capable of manipulating Life Fibers to nearly the same extent as used by us."

"Splendid," Ragyo leaned back and smirked seductively, "There are only so many people in the world capable of obtaining equipment like that. It should be a fairly easy process to narrow down whom Kisuke Urahara obtained his from."

"Yes, well, there is some bad news as well," Rei nervously adjusted her sunglasses, a small tic that she had never truly been able to get rid of, "It seems that Kisuke Urahara may have created a working Kamui."

Ragyo didn't know whether to feel impressed or angry that Kisuke Urahara was able to create a Kamui. Doing so was all but impossible except for a handful of people. It was not as simple as weaving Life Fibers into clothing and calling it a Kamui. It took years for someone to have the skills and experience necessary to manipulate the Life Fibers into the shape of clothing without being devoured in the process.

"So he managed to create a Kamui?" Ragyo decided to not worry about the possibility of a Kamui. It didn't matter in the end anyway, "Tell me, Hououmaru, has the Grand Couturier established a timeframe between when the theft occurred and the creation of this so-called Kamui?"

Rei looked at her PDA and scrolled through the information, "From what little information the Grand Couturier was able to gather, the most probable creation time of this Kamui was between twenty and twenty six days ago, give or take a few days."

The more Ragyo heard about Kisuke Urahara, the more she lamented that Revocs wasn't able to get someone like him to work for her. Ragyo was completely certain that if she had a man like Kisuke working for her, her plans would have easily been accelerated by months, if not years, "Remarkable. To create a Kamui with less than a year to study the Life Fibers…I wouldn't have believed it if I wasn't hearing it from you, Hououmaru. Incroyable. Still, there is something amiss."

"What do you mean, Ma'am?"

"It means, my dear, Kisuke Urahara knew far too much."

Rei nodded, "Do you wish for me to send a clean-up team to Karakura Town?"

"No," Ragyo said much to Rei's shock, "Kisuke Urahara was able to create a Kamui as well as outsmart my dear Nui. It is likely he has plans in place in case his operations were ever discovered. Speaking of which, the only way that he could have removed the Kamui is if he had called his accomplice after Nui arrived. Can we trace the number?"

"It will not be hard," Rei agreed, "But it will take some time. As you are aware, most governments do not trust Revocs or yourself. To find out who Kisuke Urahara called will require outsourcing to a NGO that is able to hack into secure satellites and servers without it being traced back to us."

"Make it happen," Ragyo walked towards Rei Hououmaru, a demented and cunning look adorning her face, "Hououmaru, tell me what happened to the Grand Couturier. How does my dear little Nui get hurt?"

"A Bleach Bomb," Rei answered stoically, causing the demented look to be wiped off of Ragyo's face as quickly as it appeared. "The device was placed deep in the hidden room under Kisuke Urahara's shop. It seemed the man planned for it to go off when someone other than himself attempted to access his data. While the Grand Couturier was able to escape the blast, she was still injured from the bomb due to obvious reasons."

Ragyo never thought she would hear of a Bleach Bomb. She, of course, knew about the concept of the device and how one would go about creating it, but for obvious reasons she would never make or sanction the creation of one herself. If Kisuke Urahara built a Bleach Bomb, it meant that he knew everything the true form of Life Fibers and their connection to Revocs. In fact, it wasn't a bold stretch to also assume he knew about COVERS and all it implied.

"La vie est drôle," She said and turned to sit down, "Inform me once you have found who Kisuke Urahara spoke to."

"Of course, Ma'am," Rei bowed, "Shall I also inform the Grand Couturier?"

"Yes," Ragyo picked up the glass of wine and took a sip, "Tell my dear Nui that I forgive her for her failings in Karakura Town."

"As you wish, Ma'am," Rei nodded. She found it strange that Lady Ragyo was being so lenient today. Usually if someone failed her, even someone of the same status as the Grand Couturier, Ragyo wouldn't pause to punish them. What could be going through the Director's mind that would lead to such a mysterious choice?

As soon as Rei was out of earshot, Ragyo grinned maliciously. She knew beyond a shadow of a doubt the identity of Kisuke's acquaintance. After all, it was Karakura Town and there was only one man who could have pulled something like this off so flawlessly, "So you've finally come out into the open. I cannot wait to see how you've raised young Ichigo, Isshin. It should be quite the enlightening experience."

* * *

...

* * *

"Ichigo," Isshin's voice was stern and full of authority, his face hidden in shadows. Brushing some imaginary dust off the shoulders of Ichigo's Kamui, he stared his son in the eyes, "I do not need to explain just how lucky you are. This is a big opportunity not just for you, but also for the entire Kurosaki Clan. I have worked tirelessly throughout my entire life to make sure that you lived in a good home and received a proper education. Do not bring shame upon our family as you usually do."

Ichigo stared at his dad before he sighed and rolled his eyes, "Oh shut it, old man."

Isshin stumbled but quickly recovered. Slamming his forehead against Ichigo's, he asked, "Why do you refuse to listen to your father's advice?"

Annoyed and pissed off, Ichigo reared his head back and slammed it forward with enough force to cause his father to fall on his ass, "I don't need you screwing this day up for me. I only have one shot at having a reputation. I don't need your nonsense screwing up my only chance."

"But Ichigo – "

Isshin began protesting but Ichigo had already pushed his way through the crowd of parents and citizens of Honnou City towards the group of new and current students standing outside the entrance to Honnouji Academy. Adjusting the collar of his Kamui nervously, he tried his best to ignore the pointed stares from the surrounding students. It wasn't as if he cared that his Kamui's colors were nowhere near the same as the standard gray of the Honnouji uniforms. What really irked him were the constant whispers about his short and spiky orange hair. It seemed as if people assumed he was a punk everywhere he went.

Standing in the midst of the crowd, his hands in his pockets, Ichigo wondered what everyone was waiting for. Peering over the crowd, he saw nothing blocking students from entering the academy, but something seemed to hold them back.

"Listen up!"

A man, taller than Kenpachi by at least another foot, appeared out of nowhere in front of the students. Flanked on both sides by at least twenty One-Star students, he had short and combed blond hair and dark skin. Ichigo may have been surprised by the massive man's height and size, but his attention was focused on the three black four-pointed stars emblazoned across his chest.

"I am Ira Gamagori! Honnouji Academy Student Council Disciplinary Committee Chair! I welcome you all to **Student Evaluation Day!** " The massive man shouted with enough force to cause the crowd of students to tense back slightly, "For those of you who have recently been granted the honor and privilege by Lady Satsuki to attend Honnouji Academy, there are three rules you must follow!"

"Rule Number One! All students are to bow down to Lady Satsuki whenever she graces you with her presence!"

" _Is this guy for real?"_ Ichigo didn't know what to make of Gamagori. If he hadn't been paying attention, he would have assumed that he had somehow been conned into joining the military. If that was the case, then he was seriously going to kill his dad as soon as possible.

Gamagori held up two massive fingers as he continued, "Rule Number Two! Food and drinks are prohibited in the hallways and classrooms except during designated times!"

"Rule Number Three!" Gamagori's eyes seemed to zoom in on Ichigo out of the entire crowd, "Honnouji Academy has a strict dress code. Uniforms are distributed solely by Lady Satsuki! Anyone caught wearing anything else shall suffer harshly!"

"You! Step forward!" Gamagori shouted at Ichigo. The crowd of students, seeing whom it was that Gamagori had singled out, quickly and quite mysteriously vanished from around Ichigo. When Ichigo made no motion to listen to Gamagori, apart from folding his hands in his pockets and adopting an expression of utmost irritation, Gamagori stalked forward, a yellow gleam in his eyes.

"You are violating one of Honnouji Academy's rules! Consider yourself lucky that this is your first day here. I do not expect a new student such as yourself to have already memorized the rules. You must change immediately!" Snapping his fingers, Gamagori reached out and took the standard No-Star uniform so conveniently provided by one of the One-Star students flanking him, "You will leave the premises of Honnouji Academy until you have changed!"

Leave the premises? If Ichigo understood what Gamagori meant by that, he would need to go with Isshin all the way back down to the base of Honnou City, get changed and then come back up. There were a few issues with that logic, first of which was that he didn't want to get changed and damn Gamagori to hell if he thought he was going to make him. Ichigo had fought people larger and tougher than him in the past. Well, he may have had spiritual powers when he did that, but the concept was still the same.

"You expect me," Ichigo glared at Gamagori harshly enough to make the massive teen flinch slightly, "To go back out there and change? I just spent the last five hours listening to my dad talk on and on about things I don't, nor will ever, care about. There is nothing you can do or say to me to make me do that again."

From somewhere in the crowd of people behind him, Ichigo could have sworn he heard his dad break down and start crying at his declaration, but his eyes were focused completely on Gamagori. The massive teen folded his arms across his chest, his left eye twitching slightly every second or two. As he looked ready to retaliate against Ichigo, he seemed to reel himself back.

Without taking his eyes off Ichigo, Gamagori reached out into the air just as a clipboard came hurtling through the air and into his hand. Flipping through the pages attached to it, he grumbled as he came across Ichigo's registration and profile.

"Ichigo Kurosaki!" Gamagori tapped his pen on the clipboard as he finally found the name he was looking for. He was curious about why the name sounded familiar to him and now he realized why, "It fill me with pride that you are right on time. I was convinced you would be tardy on your first day of class and I would have to hunt you down and subdue you."

"What?" Ichigo took a moment to process what Gamagori just said, "On time for what exactly?"

"It need not concern you!" Gamagori shouted bombastically, "I will give you a pass on your current attire for this day! Let the **Student Evaluation Day** begin!"

Ichigo mentally suppressed the comment he wanted to say. It wouldn't do to antagonize someone that looked to be at least five times his size at the moment. As Gamagori moved out of the way, allowing the new students to meander into Honnouji Academy, he heard a voice from the crowd that froze him cold.

"That's my boy! Ichigo, go and make your papa proud!"

Ichigo heard snickering and chuckles coming from the crowd and fellow students. Realizing he needed to nip this in the bud immediately, he grabbed the clipboard out of Gamagori's hands, located his dad in the crowd, and threw the piece of wood like a lethal Frisbee. The clipboard sailed threw the air faster than most people could see and managed to nail Isshin in the forehead with an impact loud enough to echo through the air and disturb several nearby birds.

"Damn idiot," Ichigo seethed while dusting his hands off. Walking past several shocked and awed students, including Gamagori, Ichigo folded his hands in his pockets and entered Honnouji Academy.

His first thought was that there was too much space. The actual school buildings had to be nearly a quarter of a mile behind the entrance, leaving a large and suspiciously empty courtyard. As he followed the line of students, half of which seemed to be unnerved by the grandiose size of Honnouji Academy, Ichigo thought he sensed someone watching him. Glancing inconspicuously back and forth while making sure not to draw attention to himself, he eventually looked up at the top of Honnouji Academy and thought he saw someone, but the strangely bright light between them made it hard to tell.

" _Who is that?"_

Hearing excited breathing coming from his side, Ichigo looked down and saw a girl with brown eyes and hair staring up at his with stars twinkling in her eyes. Honestly a little scared by the fanatical look the girl was giving him, Ichigo asked, "Can I help you?"

It was almost as if the girl was waiting for Ichigo to ask her that particular question. Jumping in front of him and pumping her fist into the air, the girl began speaking rapidly, "That was so awesome! You came out of nowhere and stared down one of Lady Satsuki's Elite Four just like a sheriff from an old Western who had just strolled into town. I wish I could do that. Then I could clean up crime during the night as a masked vigilante!"

Ichigo watched in a mixture of horror and amazement as the girl began adding various stances and poses at specific times of her speech. When she finally finished speaking, he could only stare at her in confusion and asked, "Who are you?"

"Oh! Silly me!" The girl slapped her forehead with the palm of her hand hard enough to leave a red imprint of her hand, "I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Mako Mankanshoku!"

Ichigo looked at her outstretch hand for a moment before hesitantly accepting it, "Ichigo Kurosaki."

"You're name is Strawberry?" Mako's eyes lit up and she seemed to drool a little out of the corner of her mouth, "I love strawberries! Strawberries are delicious, especially when they are dipped in home-made chocolate and with whipped cream-"

"My name means 'to protect one thing' not strawberry!"

"Ohhh," Mako let out a sound of understanding before she abruptly switched topics, "Oh! How do you think you'll do on Student Evaluation Day?"

"I don't know," he answered with a shrug, "I have no idea what it is."

"Student Evaluation Day," Mako began ranting again, "Is where students as lowly and meager as us are granted the opportunity to determine whether or not we will be given a Goku Uniform."

That explained some things, "So, it's like a physical or something?"

"Nope!" Mako answered a bit too enthusiastically, "If it was something like that, I wouldn't be here. I'm a dedicated underachiever. Something like that would make my delicate skin break out in a rash. All that you need to do is stick your arm out, close your eyes and wait ten seconds for the strange machine to determine your score."

Ichigo was getting close to the main building now. Looking up at Honnouji Academy, he frowned when the figure he saw earlier had disappeared, taking with it the light that previously illuminated the top of the building "Score?"

"Yup!" Mako nodded vigorously, "They say it is out of 1000 but I'm proud of my all time high score of 30. When the proctor saw my score, he said it was the lowest one he had ever witnessed. Even in failure Mako Mankanshoku is a winner!"

"That sounds…fascinating," Ichigo found Mako's pride in failure quite terrifying. Perhaps in time he could get used to it, but for the moment he had other things to worry about, such as what this test actually was. He was having trouble separating Mako's fantasies from what was reality.

"What's with your uniform?" Mako switched topics and began teleporting around Ichigo at random locations, poking and prodding his Kamui in various places, "It looks so funny! Are those eyes? Why is it black and white instead of gray? Does it transform into a suit of armor when you flip a switch?"

"Hey!" Ichigo held his hand out in a stopping gesture, "What's with all the questions?"

"I don't have many friends. Actually, I don't have any. Will you be my first friend?"

Her question brought Ichigo out of his thoughts. Looking at Mako and seeing the innocent and hopeful expression on her face, he said, "I suppose."

Mako seemed to be on the verge of hugging him, which Ichigo would have prevented by leaping back, when a One-Star student began shouting through a megaphone.

"All students must split into two lines. Boys on the left and girls on the right! Please keep the lines orderly and in single-file."

"Ah! That's my queue to vamoose!" Mako began panicking and ran towards the line on the right, "I'll see you later Strawberry."

"For the last time, my name doesn't mean strawberry!" he shouted at her before realizing Mako had gone out of earshot. Muttering about it not being worth the effort coming to Honnouji Academy, Ichigo walked towards the line on the left.

It was surprising that he didn't need to wait long for his turn at whatever the examination was. Even though the line had to have been nearly one hundred students by the time he got on, it had taken barely twenty minutes for him to nearly reach the front. When it was his turn to go, he entered the room.

The student wearing a labcoat with a single black four-pointed star pointed for Ichigo towards the nearest empty chair. Sitting down in the chair, the One-Star student glanced at Ichigo's hair and then his face before saying, "Please roll up your sleeve and place your hand in the machine."

"Why?"

"Don't question the exam," the One-Star student warned Ichigo. Instead of wasting the effort of arguing back, which was something he was finding to look more and more worth it, Ichigo swallowed his retort before it could leave his throat and did as he was told.

With his right hand stuck in the machine, Ichigo propped his head on his left arm and waited nearly a minute for the machine to finish. When he was told he could remove his hand, he asked, "So what's my score?"

"Hold on," the One-Star said while the machine continued beeping. When it finally stopped, the One-Star looked at the screen conveniently hidden from Ichigo and gasped before rising out of his seat and rushing off out into the hall.

With everyone staring at him once again, although it wasn't at his hair this time, Ichigo decided to find out what had scared the crap out of the proctor. Getting out of his chair, Ichigo leaned over the table and looked at the computer facing away from him. Highlighted on the screen in bold red letters was:

**Student Name: Kurosaki, Ichigo**

**Life Fiber Resistance – 90.3%**

* * *

...

* * *

"Give me a ticket to Honnou City."

The clerk sitting in the ticket counter looked over the top of his newspaper at the clump of wadded up money and coins placed on the other side of the glass. While he reached through the oval-shaped hole in the window and grabbed the money, he couldn't help but be surprised. No one bought tickets to Honnou City. The only people that traveled there were those that had annual passes and who paid up front. Punching a few keys on his computer, the familiar sound of the printer starting soon after, he looked at the girl staring impatiently at him and decided to ask, "I don't mean to impose, but are you sure you want to go to a place like that? Honnou City isn't exactly the best place for a proper young lady."

"Proper?" The girl rolled her eyes at the clerk's unwanted interference. Why did everyone she met think she was some delicate little flower that couldn't take care of herself? Motioning for the clerk to hand her the ticket, she said, "Thanks for the advice but give me my ticket."

Grabbing the ticket out of the clerk's reluctant hand and placing it one of the many pockets on her black and white jacket, Ryuko Matoi adjusted the silver case strapped to her back and walked towards the nearest bench. She had about an hour until the bus was scheduled to leave so she had plenty of time to kill, which meant she was going to be quite bored until then. Plopping down with a loud sigh, Ryuko ran a hand through her black hair, her fingers brushing against the single red highlight in the process, and leaned back until her head was resting against the back of the bench.

"Great," she muttered in annoyance, "Two weeks in this city and not a single clue."

Ryuko had been so sure that a clue about the identity of her father's murderer would be here, in Osaka, but it appeared she was wrong yet again. Whenever she would ask, but mostly order, people to tell her if they'd seen a woman wielding a Scissor Blade, they'd either look at her funny or clam up. Placing a hand on the silver case holding her own Scissor Blade, colored red, Ryuko sadly thought back over the last six months and everything that happened.

"I'm beginning to think this is pointless," she moaned and kicked the silver case hard enough to dent it, "Twelve cities. I've been to twelve cities in six months and not one person knows anything! At this rate, I'm going to die before finding out anything about my dad."

Usually Ryuko would stay in a city for about a couple of weeks before moving on, but she'd only been in Osaka for four days. She had a lead concerning the identity of her father's murderer, her very first one since that fateful day, but she doubted the accuracy of the information. Stuff like that just doesn't fall into her lap. Ryuko wasn't used to having things going her way, so she was more than a little apprehensive about the whole situation.

She first heard the rumor when she was interrogating students at Naniwa Kinman High school for information. While she was shaking down two students who had the nerve to try and attack her, a third student had approached her with information about the woman with the Scissor Blade. When they asked for a lot of money for the information, Ryuko pointed her Scissor Blade at their throat and threatened to cut off something important unless they told her everything they knew.

The student, after wetting his pants out of fear, said the rumor mills placed a woman with a purple scissor blade in close proximity with the Student Council President of Honnouji Academy, Satsuki Kiryuin. Ryuko hadn't initially believed a murderer would be associated with the Kiryuin name and demanded to know the truth. The student, now shaking in fear, said he was telling the truth. The rumor was Satsuki Kiryuin was intimately familiar with the woman with the purple Scissor Blade. In fact, she might even be the killer.

Groaning in annoyance, Ryuko reached into her pocket and pulled out a lemon. Taking a bite out of it without even a hint of hesitation, she glanced at the nearby clock and realized she still had forty-five minutes.

" _I've almost found the woman who killed you dad. You just need to wait a little longer. The woman with the Scissor Blade will pay for what she did. I promise."_


End file.
